tf.'iv. 
H! 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 

GIFT  OF 

Dr.   Gordon  S.  Watktns 


(forfom  9.  Watkitus 


WALES  IN  THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


WALES 


IN   THE 


Seventeenth  Century 


ITS  LITERATURE 


AND 


MEN  OF  LETTERS  AND  ACTION 


^         I'V 

THE  REV.  J.'  C.^MORRICE,    M.A. 


M    I 

VICAR  OF  BANGOR 


JARVIS  6r-  FOSTER 
MCMXVIH 


TO   MY   FATHER 
WHO   TAUGHT    ME   THE   LOVE   OF   READING 

AND   TO   ALL   STUDENTS 

WHO   LOVE   WALES   AND    ITS   PAST 

AND   CHERISH    BRIGHT    HOPES    FOR   ITS    FUTURE. 


PREFACE 

THE  only  apology  for  bringing  out  this  work  in  the  midst  of 
the  Great  War  is  that  the  writer  undertook  it  during  a 
period  of  enforced  abstention  from  other  activities,  due  to  an 
accident. 

The  fortunate  proximity  of  the  University  College  Library,  at 
Bangor,  and  the  kindliness  of  its  Librarian,  the  Rev.  T.  Shankland, 
M.A.,  who  gave  every  facility  for  using  the  treasures  he  has 
accumulated  with  so  much  care  and  industry,  relieved  what  would 
otherwise  have  proved  a  tedious  period.  The  best  tribute  I  can 
pay  to  Mr.  Shankland's  ready  counsel  and  help  is  to  quote  the 
words  of  a  student  engaged  in  using  the  Library,  who  observed  : 
"  He  is  not  niggardly  with  what  he  knows,  and  what  he  doesn't 
know  of  this  Library  is  not  worth  knowing."  It  is  the  verdict  of 
all  who  come  into  touch  with  Mr.  Shankland  in  his  capacity  as 
Librarian. 

The  work  has  given  much  pleasure  to  the  author,  who  hopes 
it  may  help  to  dispel  part  of  the  uncertainty  which  has  enveloped 
some  of  the  i  yth  century  writers  and  their  work,  and  lead  to  a 
further  prosecution  of  other  details  not  yet  definitely  ascertained. 

Should  this  enterprise  prove  of  interest  to  Welsh  students  and 
others,  the  writer  has  by  him  a  collection  of  materials  relating  to 
the  1 6th  and  i8th  centuries,  which  can  be  treated  in  the  same  way, 
with  the  additional  advantage  of  the  experience  gained  in  the  pre- 
paration of  this  volume. 

At  the  moment  of  writing  this  preface,  the  news  has  come  to 
hand  of  the  bestowal  by  his  gracious  Majesty  of  the  honour  of 
Knighthood  upon  my  former  teacher  and  always  esteemed  friend, 
John  Morris  Jones,  Professor  of  Welsh  at  the  University  College 
of  North  Wales,  as  a  recognition  of  his  life-long  work  in  connection 
with  Celtic  studies,  and  I  should  like  to  acknowledge  that  the 
inspiration  to  this  undertaking  was  the  result  of  an  encouraging 


conversation  with  him  as  to  the  necessity  of  writing  the  literary 
history  of  Wales  period  by  period. 

The  work  falls  far  short  of  the  ideal  the  writer  had  in  mind, 
but  the  exigencies  of  the  times  and  the  multitudinous  cares  of  a 
busy  parish  are  some  palliation  for  this,  and  will  at  least  have 
weight  in  the  verdict  of  indulgent  readers. 

My  deepest  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Foster,  the  publisher,  for 
all  his  care  and  trouble  in  printing  the  work. 

J.  C.  MORRICE. 
ST.  MARY'S  VICARAGE, 
BANGOR, 

January,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 

Pages. 

INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER               .     .  i  - 1 1 

CHAPTER  I.  Historical,  Antiquarian,  &  Typographical  13-87 

(a)  The  Period  before  the  Civil  War     -  15-22 

(b)  The  Civil  War  Period  22-36 

(c)  The  Second  Insurrection  Period  36  -  39 

(d)  Satires  and  Lampoons  39  -  42 

(e)  The  Commonwealth  Period  42  -  70 

(f)  The  Period  of  the  Restoration  to  the  end 

of  the  1 7th  Century  70-87 

CHAPTER  II.  Religious  and  Moral  Writings  -  89-215 

(a)  The  Editions  of  Holy  Scripture  96  - 1 20 

(b)  The  Editions  of  the  Psalms  and  Book  of 

Common  Prayer  -  120-134 

(c)  Other  Works,  Religious  and  Moral  134-215 
CHAPTER  III.  The  Poetry  of  the  Period  216  -  300 

(a)  Welsh  Poetry  219-291 

(b)  English  and  Latin  Poems  -  291-300 
CHAPTER  IV.  Grammar  and  Lexicography  301  -  322 
CHAPTER   V.  Miscellaneous  323  -  344 
INDEX      -                                                                     -  345-352 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

THE  writer  hopes  to  present  a  careful  and  concise 
account  of  the  Literature  of  Wales  in  a  very  important 
period  of  her  history.  For  this  purpose  the  works 
published  during  that  period  have  been  carefully  examined — the 
original  works,  when  possible,  and  failing  that,  the  best  extant 
editions  of  them.  A  survey  has  also  been  made  of  the  different 
authorities  upon  whom  reliance  has  been  placed  for  our  informa- 
tion concerning  the  authors  of  that  century  and  their  work. 
Every  care  has  been  taken  to  corroborate  the  statements  made 
from  some  reliable  source,  and  references  are  given. 

The  effort  takes  within  its  scope  more  than  the  works  written 
in  the  Welsh  language.  It  includes  works  written  both  in  Latin 
and  English,  that  have  reference  to  Wales,  which  are  necessary  to 
a  survey  of  this  remarkable  century,  as  far  as  it  affected  Wales. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  an  epoch  adorned  by  men  who 
were  eminent  in  verse  and  prose,  in  philosophic  learning  and  in 
religious  effort,  some  of  whom  have  a  just  claim  to  a  place  in  the 
annals  of  European  literature. 

Perhaps  Wales  during  this  period  had  lost  some  of  that  distinc- 
tiveness  which  marked  her  literature  in  the  period  prior  to  her  union 
with  England,  but  she  gained  access  into  a  wider  world  of  ideas 
and  benefitted  by  the  change.  The  moral  and  religious  aims  of 
man  claimed  her  serious  attention  during  this  period,  and  although 
she  failed  to  give  that  mature  expression  to  them,  which  came 
later,  yet  the  very  struggle  to  give  them  expression  helped  to 
develop  her  life.  As  the  century  wore  on,  she  got  rid  of  the 
inactivity  which  had  threatened  to  devitalize  her  during  its  early 
years  and  which  had  made  them  so  barren  of  literature. 

There  have  been  few  periods  of  greater  interest  than  this, 
and  yet  it  is  almost  devoid  of  one  element  which  had  been 
prominent  in  earlier  periods.  The  bards  were  no  more. 
Elizabeth  had  revived  them  by  granting  her  gracious  sanction 

l 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

and  support  to  the  Eisteddfod  at  Caerwys  in  1568,  but, 
strangely  enough,  in  forty  years  afterwards  the  cult  of  bardism 
was  almost  extinct.  The  secret  of  this  was  that  the  aristocracy 
of  Wales  no  longer  kept  the  Bardd  Teulu  nor  the  Pencerdd* 
upon  their  hearths.  The  great  Elizabethan  period  drew  men's 
minds  towards  England,  and  before  the  end  of  her  reign  the 
Welsh  aristocracy  were  well  on  the  way  to  become  Anglicised. 

To  some  extent  also,  the  bards  had  been  their  own  undoing. 
The  stern  injunctions  against  the  derwyr  adopted  at  Caerwys 
were  very  desirable  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  better  bards,  for 
the  clenvyr  were  itinerant  beggars  who  brought  the  profession  of 
bardism  into  disrepute,  and,  no  doubt,  the  matter  needed  firm 
handling  at  Caerwys.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  out  of 
the  ranks  of  the  clenvyr  sprang  many  of  the  better  bards.  Their 
disruption  emptied  the  reservoir  of  bardism  instead  of  filtering  and 
clarifying  its  waters.  There  was  no  longer  any  inducement  to 
take  up  bardism  as  a  profession.  This  involved  a  loss  which  was 
directly  apparent  in  the  first  half  of  the  century,  in  which  the 
number  of  bardic  effusions  produced  was  very  small.  It  had, 
however,  a  compensating  advantage,  for  those  who  sang,  sang  not 
for  love  of  gain  but  for  pure  love  of  the  Muse  and  nothing  else. 
Hence  the  few  poets  we  have  in  the  seventeenth  century  whose 
works  have  been  preserved,  composed  most  worthily,  and  this 
remark  applies  more  particularly  to  the  poems  of  Huw  Morns,  of 
Pont-y-meibion,  as  will  be  seen  later.  The  great  disadvantage  of 
the  drastic  reforms  made  at  Caerwys  was  that  probably  many 
a  "  mute  inglorious  Milton "  was  baulked  of  his  chance,  for 
bardism  became  confined  to  the  upper  and  leisured  classes. 
When  it  is  remembered,  as  has  been  stated,  that  these  classes 
tended  to  become  Anglicised,  it  sufficiently  explains  the  paucity 
of  poetical  works  in  this  century.  But  to  it  must  be  further 
added  the  fact  that  no  Eisteddfod  was  held  to  give  an  impetus  to 
the  bards.  One  writer  points  out  that  neither  in  Gwynedd  nor  in 
Powys  was  there  an  Eisteddfod  from  1568  to  1798,  in  which  latter 

1  Gweirydd  ap  Rhys  Hants  Lknyddiaeth  Gymreig,  p.  37. 
2 


INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

year  Owain  Myfyr  and  the  London  Gwyneddigion  Society  revived 
it.1  The  sole  exception  mentioned  (and  there  seems  but  little 
foundation  for  this)  was  one  held  in  1620  entitled  "Cadair 
Morganwg,"  but,  granted  that  it  took  place,  it  was  no  national 
affair,  and  is  only  claimed  as  a  small  literary  meeting.2  It  is 
asserted  that  only  four  bards  were  present,  and  of  their  president, 
Watkin  Powell,  very  little  is  known.3  The  memorable  and  out- 
standing bards  of  the  century  were  Huw  Morus,  already  mentioned, 
Vicar  Prichard,  Edward  Morus,  Edmund  Prys,  and  William 
Phillip. 

Prose  writers,  however,  were  very  numerous.  This  was 
above  all  the  age  of  controversy,  especially  the  last  half  of  the 
century.  The  atmosphere  was  that  of  strife  and  was  more 
conducive  to  prose  than  verse.  The  political  and  religious 
struggles  of  the  period  resulted  in  a  veritable  crop  of  literature — 
books,  tracts,  and  pamphlets.  Many  of  them  are  worthless 
to-day,  except  to  show  how  the  battle  raged,  and  what  fierce 
assaults  and  dogged  resistance  are  to  be  expected  when  man  is 
stirred  deeply  in  matters  of  the  soul  and  conscience.  Two 
centuries  and  a  half  have  not  quite  obliterated  the  effects  of  the 
acrimony  of  those  times,  although  signs  are  not  wanting  that  in 
the  new  age  which  is  dawning  this  bitterness  will  be  consigned  to 
the  oblivion  which  it  deserves. 

Fortunately,  in  the  first  forty  years  of  the  century,  men's 
minds  were  free  from  turmoil,  and  were  thus  able  to  devote 
themselves  to  a  form  of  literary  work  which  has  been  most 
profitable  to  the  Welsh  nation.  Bishop  Richard  Davies,  Dr. 
John  Davies,  Rowland  Heilyn,  Thomas  Middleton,  and  Rowland 
Vaughan  were  indefatigable  during  those  years  in  their  efforts 
to  give  the  Cymry  the  Scriptures  in  a  revised  form,  and  transla- 
tions of  some  of  the  best  devotional  works  of  the  period.  In  the 
latter  half  of  the  century  Stephen  Hughes  and  other  able  writers 
did  a  like  service  to  their  countrymen. 

1  Gweirydd  ap  Rhys  Hanes  Lknyddiaeth  Gymrcigt  p.  397.  2  ibid* 
3  Jones'  History  of  Wales ;  p>  225. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  desire  for  literature  which  the  Reformation  period  had 
fostered  in  England  came  later  in  Wales.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  population  of  the  country  was  scanty  and  poor,  and  that 
there  were  very  few  educational  facilities.  Wales  had  no  Press, 
and  its  remoteness  from  the  leading  printing  firms  increased  the 
difficulties  of  publishing.  Most  of  the  Welsh  books  of  this 
period  were  printed  in  London  or  on  the  Continent.  Occasionally 
books  were  printed  at  Oxford,  e.g.,  Ystyriaethau  Drexelius  ar 
Dragtvyddoldeb,  1661,  but  Oxford  was  hardly  more  accessible 
than  London.  Also  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  for  English 
compositors  to  deal  with  Welsh  orthography,  which  accounts  for 
a  great  many  inaccuracies  in  the  works  published  at  this  time.  It 
was  not  until  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  1685, 
that  a  printing  press  was  established  at  Shrewsbury  by  Thomas 
Jones.1  The  first  book  was  printed  in  South  Wales  in  1718,  at 
Adpar,  Newcastle  Emlyn,  on  the  Cardiganshire  side.  North 
WTales  had  no  press  until  1735,  when  Lewis  Morris  established 
one  at  Holyhead.2  Others  were  established  at  Bodedern,  Bala, 
Trefriw  (1755),  and  Denbigh.  It  meant  an  immense  expenditure 
in  time  and  money  to  bring  out  a  Welsh  book,  because  it  generally 
necessitated  the  presence  of  the  author  to  read  the  proofs.  This 
fact  sufficiently  explains  why  so  many  works  of  this  and  the 
preceding  periods  still  remain  in  MS., — a  number  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  those  which  have  seen  daylight  in  print. 

Translations  rather  than  original  works  were  the  vogue  in  this 
century,  and  the  remark  especially  applies  to  religious  books.  In 
religion  as  well  as  in  politics  it  was  a  period  of  transition.  Wales 
had  lagged  behind  England  in  reaping  the  fruit  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Her  innate  conservatism,  perhaps,  explains  this.  But 
there  came  a  time  when  her  leading  divines  realised  it,  and  they 
did  what  was  best  and  wisest  under  the  circumstances,  and  that 
which  enabled  Wales  to  cover  the  lost  ground  most  quickly. 

1 J.  Blackwell  says  1690  (see  Ceinion  Alun,  p.  72.) 

2  It  is  claimed  that  there  was  a  book  printed  at  Montgomery  in  1648.  See 
chapter  I.  of  this  work.  It  is  believed  there  was  a  moveable  press  during 
the  Civil  War  period,  and  this  would  account  for  it, 

4 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

They  translated  into  Welsh  the  choicest  of  the  English  religious 
productions — "  The  Practice  of  Piety,"  "  The  Marrow  of  Modern 
Divinity,"  "  Drexelius  on  Eternity,"  and  other  works  which  had 
long  been  devotional  books  in  England. 

The  antiquarian  was  very  busy  in  this  century,  Robert 
Vaughan  of  Hengwrt  standing  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
fellows  in  this  respect.  He  had  in  Dr.  Thomas  Ellis  and  John 
Jones  of  Gelli  Lyfdy  most  able  coadjutors,  and  there  was  a 
number  of  other  antiquarians  of  quite  appreciable  ability. 

Nor  was  there  lacking  considerable  zeal  for  grammar  and 
lexicography,  two  branches  of  knowledge  in  which  Dr.  Thomas 
Williams  and  Dr.  John  Davies  greatly  excelled. 

The  most  purely  original  writer  of  the  period  was  Morgan 
Llwyd  of  Gwynedd,  whose  works  have  now  been  carefully  edited 
by  the  late  T.  E.  Ellis,  M.P.  for  Merionethshire,  and  Mr.  J.  H. 
Davies,  M.A.,  of  Cwrt  Mawr.  Another  original  production  of 
the  time  was  "  Hanes  y  Ffydd  Ddiffuant "  by  Charles  Edwards. 

No  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  literature  of  this  period 
would  be  complete  which  failed  to  point  out  how  restless  a  time 
it  was,  how  the  landmarks  both  in  Church  and  State  were 
disturbed,  and  how  old  ideas  were  consigned  to  oblivion  and  new 
hopes  engendered.  High  goals  were  aimed  at,  nothwithstanding 
failure  and  disappointment  in  many  directions.  It  has  been  said 
that  for  Wales  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  period  of  the  grey 
dawn  between  night  and  day.  It  saw  the  beginnings  of  a  religious 
revival  and  the  birth  struggle  of  the  educational  movement,  and 
it  tasted  something  of  the  power  of  popular  government.  There 
were  losses,  but  there  were  also  gains  which,  when  substantiated, 
more  than  compensated  for  the  former. 

The  old  form  of  religion  and  much  that  was  romantic  in  the 
former  centuries  were  lost,  but  new  seeds  were  planted  which, 
despite  many  forebodings  to  the  contrary,  grew  and  prospered 
and  have  made  for  progress. 

The  old  traditions  of  Welsh  bardism,  as  has  been  stated, 

5 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

disappeared,  but  they  can  hardly  be  mourned  as  losses  when  we 
have  in  their  stead  the  choice  lyrics  of  Huw  Morus  and  the  neat 
epigrams  of  John  Owen. 

It  is  matter  for  regret  that  the  Welsh  gentry  were  no  longer 
in  the  same  degree  the  supporters  and  patrons  of  Welsh  literature. 
Rowland  Vaughan  and  Robert  Vaughan  were  amongst  the  last 
of  them,  and  the  spirit  prominent  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  was  lacking  in  this  century.  But  there  was  ample  reason 
for  the  change  when  we  take  into  account  the  circumstances  of 
the  time.  A  century  of  battle  and  oppression,  imprisonment  and 
bloodshed,  prejudice  and  revenge,  was  bound  from  its  very  nature 
to  upset  the  normal  order  of  things.  It  was  certainly  one  of  the 
results  of  the  Civil  War  that  men's  minds  drifted  into  other 
channels  and  became  engrossed  with  larger  issues  than  "  building 
up  the  rhyme "  or,  in  fact,  being  absorbed  in  literature  of  any 
kind,  and  this  applied  in  a  special  degree  to  the  more  responsible 
inhabitants  of  Wales,  the  men  of  education  and  property,  who 
had  to  make  decisions  and  stand  by  them.  This  fact  is  some- 
times lost  sight  of  in  the  sweeping  condemnation  that  has  been 
made  of  the  neglect  of  literature  and  especially  of  bardic  lore  by 
the  Welsh  gentry. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  century  was  the 

rise  of  many  men  of  plebeian  origin  who  came  into  prominence 

during  the  Civil  War  period.     Amongst  them  there  was  no  more 

notable  case  than  that  of  John  Jones  of  Maesygarnedd,  better 

known  as  John  Jones,  the  Regicide.      He  was  the  first  Welshman 

to  take  a  foremost  part  in  political  work  in  Great  Britain.     He 

held  many  responsible  posts,  and  was  one  of  Cromwell's  lieutenants 

in  Ireland.     He  was  one   of  the  signatories  to  the  warrant  for 

Charles  I.'s  execution,  and  himself  was  beheaded  in  the  first  year 

of  the  Restoration.     The  'death  of  Charles  was  a  matter  to  be 

deplored  by  all  right  thinking  men,  and  there  are  very  few  left 

who  would  now  maintain  its  justice  or  necessity.     Still,  the  death 

of  a  man   like  John   Jones,   the  son  of  a  Welsh  cottager,   for 

signing  away  the  King's  life  marks  the  great  revolution  that  had 

6 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

been  worked  in  the  country  by  the  middle  of  this  remarkable 
century.1 

Much  as  Charles  I.'s  execution  is  to  be  deplored,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  John  Jones,  and  many  others  who  shared  his  fate, 
suffered  for  new  ideals  of  popular  government  which  were 
beginning  to  gather  strength,  as  against  the  ancient  order  which, 
although  it  reasserted  itself  for  a  time  during  the  reigns  of  the 
last  two  kings  of  the  Stuart  dynasty,  was  doomed  to  be  extin- 
guished for  ever  as  soon  as  William  of  Orange  mounted  the 
throne. 

In  religion,  as  has  been  remarked,  the  Reformation  had 
gained  very  little  footing  in  Wales  in  the  early  years  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  There  had  been  no  preparation  for  it  as 
there  had  been  in  England.  Wales  had  not  its  Wycliffe,  and  the 
temperament  of  the  nation  being  what  it  is,  a  proclamation  by  law 
had  had  very  little  effect  upon  the  Welsh  religious  mind.  It  is 
doubtful  whether,  except  superficially,  the  worth  of  the  Reforma- 
tion was  recognised  or  its  influence  felt.  Yet  there  were  not 
wanting  some  indications  that  Roman  Catholicism  was  on  the 
wane.  Testimony  is  borne  to  this  in  the  fate  meted  out  to  John 
Roberts,  a  devoted  Jesuit  priest,  who  had  been  educated  at 
Oxford  and  at  Valladolid,  in  Spain.  When  he  returned  in  1602, 
full  of  zeal  to  infuse  his  countrymen  afresh  with  Roman 
Catholicism,  he  was  persecuted  and  imprisoned,  and  died  on  the 
scaffold  in  1610.  This  is  proof  that  the  change  was  slowly 
coming,  although  it  is  very  uncertain  how  far  the  popular  mind 
would  have  endorsed  the  official  action  in  the  case  of  Roberts. 
This  execution  did  not  deter  Father  John  Salesbury  from  writing 
in  1618  "  Eglurhad  helaethlawn  o'r  Athrawiaeth  Gristionogawl," 
which  shows  that  the  Romanists  were  striving  to  maintain  their 
hold  upon  Welshmen  by  giving  them  an  exposition  of  their  faith 
in  the  Welsh  tongue. 

But,  if  Roman  Catholicism  was  on  the  wane,  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  Reformed  Church  had  not,  as  yet,  filled  up  whatever 

'  See  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies'  Introduction  to  Gweithiau  Morgan 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

void  there  might  have  been  felt  by  the  weakening  hold  of  Roman 
Catholicism  upon  the  masses  of  the  Welsh  people.  The  truth  is 
that  the  Church  in  its  reformed  state  had  been  placed  at  a  very 
serious  disadvantage.  The  monasteries  had  been  disendowed  and 
the  resources  of  the  Church  to  carry  on  her  work  curtailed  beyond 
measure.  No  where  could  this  have  been  more  felt  than  in  a 
poor  country  like  Wales. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  drastic  policy  of  Henry  VIII. 
did  great  spiritual  harm  in  that  it  provided  no  resources  in  the 
place  of  those  which  had  been  plundered.  It  was  like  the 
incomplete  work  of  a  surgeon  who  cuts  away  the  evil  growth  but 
neither  mollifies  with  ointment  nor  binds  up  the  wound.  Henry 
was,  in  fact,  an  unskilful  surgeon  who  left  the  Church  incised  and 
bleeding.  The  land  and  revenue  of  the  Church  had  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  nobles,  and  she  could  not  possibly  maintain  her 
former  organisation  and  fulfil  her  obligations  to  the  nation  on  the 
scant  store  that  was  left  her. 

But  in  spite  of  her  difficulties  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Church  was  increasing  in 
respect  and  usefulness.  This  is  admitted  by  all  impartial 
historians,  and  can  be  verified  by  any  student  of  the  period.  Her 
bishops,  for  the  most  part,  were  Welshmen  and  Welsh -speaking 
Welshmen.  It  was  very  different  from  the  Hanoverian  period  in 
this  respect.  There  were  exceptions,  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  although  not  Welsh -speaking,  they  were  men  of  great 
eminence  who,  in  some  cases,  afterwards  held  the  highest  offices 
in  Church  and  State.  It  was  Laud's  High  Commission  Court 
that  brought  the  Church  into  bad  odour.  There  are  numerous 
cases  recorded  of  Welsh  clergy  who  were  cited  to  appear  before  it 
for  various  offences,  and  these  citations  were  the  cause  of  much 
friction.  This  is  far  from  saying  that  all  who  were  cited  to  appear 
before  Laud  were  unjustly  accused.  But  some  were  called  up  for 
what  would  be  regarded  by  the  majority  of  their  parishioners  as 
trivial  matters,  and  when  a  hard  working  parish  priest  held  in  high 
esteem  by  his  flock  was  put  to  the  inconvenience,  expense,  and 


INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

anxiety,  which  a  citation  of  this  kind  involved,  this  intrusion 
would  naturally  be  resented  by  many  thoughtful  people  who  were 
quite  loyal  Churchmen.  It  would  be  deemed  an  interference 
with  freedom,  and  would  clash  with  the  temperament  of  many 
high-spirited  Welshmen  of  that  age. 

The  other  stumbling-block  was  the  "  Book  of  Sports,"  which 
was  commanded  to  be  read  in  the  churches.  The  Welsh  were, 
for  the  most  part,  strict  Sabbatarians,  and  it  seemed  to  them 
desecration  that  the  quiet  of  their  Sunday  should  be  disturbed  by 
any  rioter  or  roysterer  who  could  say  that  he  had  attended  one  of 
the  services  of  the  Church.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  declara- 
tion was  felt  as  an  affront  by  many  serious -minded  men. 

This  was  therefore  the  position  in  the  first  half  of  the 
Seventeenth  century — Roman  Catholicism  was  on  the  wane,  the 
Church  depleted  in  revenue  failed  to  perform  all  her  obligations, 
and  seeds  of  disaffection  were  being  sown  by  such  measures  as 
the  two  above-named. 

Add  to  this  that  Puritanism  in  England  was  on  the  increase, 
and  that  Wales  during  the  Civil  War  was  drawn  into  the  vortex 
of  the  most  stirring  events  which  ever  quickened  a  nation's  pulse, 
and  we  have  a  third  far-reaching  cause  for  the  spread  of 
Puritanism  in  Wales  before  the  end  of  the  century. 

How  far  the  clergy  in  Wales  neglected  their  duty  is  a  matter 
very  difficult  to  determine.  In  the  absence  of  very  definite  proof 
to  the  contrary,  the  impartial  historian  must  give  them  the  benefit 
of  the  doubt  and  content  himself  with  the  knowledge  that  the 
times  were  degenerate  and  that  the  standard  of  life  was  not  as 
high  as  it  might  have  been.  Even  Huw  Morus,  the  most  chaste 
of  the  bards  had,  apparently,  his  moments  of  levity  and  verged  on 
coarseness,  although  his  own  life  was  above  reproach.  His 
"  Mabinogion  "  are  the  product  of  the  age,  and  were  quickly  put 
aside  when  discretion  and  responsibility  raised  the  bard  above 
such  foibles.  But  they  are  interesting  in  throwing  light  upon  the 
moral  standard  of  that  age ;  and  although  it  can  be  said  that 
their  duty  would  be  to  rise  above  it,  the  clergy,  like  other  men, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

would  reflect  their  environment.  In  any  case,  there  would  be  a 
certain  number  affected  by  the  laxity  of  the  times,  and  when, 
subsequently,  the  conscience  of  the  country  was  quickened,  as  it 
must  have  been  by  the  dread  events  through  which  it  passed,  this 
laxity  would  excite  no  small  notice  and  incur  the  censure  it 
deserved.  Even  in  the  case  of  men  who  had  reformed  their 
lives,  public  opinion  would  not  judge  them  leniently,  and  it  would 
not  be  easy  to  forget  their  past.  But,  granted  that  a  proportion 
of  the  clergy  failed  to  realise  their  high  calling,  it  is  beyond  all 
question  that  the  majority  were  men  of  learning  and  godly  life. 
Many  of  them  were  life-long  friends  of  the  most  extreme 
Puritans  and  were  held  in  high  esteem  by  them,  and  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  more  moderate  Puritans  gave  them  ungrudging 
support. 

The  probability  is,  that  had  there  been  no  political  conflagra- 
tion, the  Church  in  Wales  would  have  made  good  her  position 
during  the  last  half  of  the  century,  inasmuch  as  she  had  weathered 
the  first  half  in  spite  of  her  difficulties,  as  the  cumulative 
testimony  of  many  writers  proves.  A  study  of  Dr.  Calamy's 
work1  on  the  one  hand,  and  Walker's  "  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy," 
which  was  a  reply  to  "  Dr.  Calamy's  Abridgement  of  the  Life 
of  Mr.  Baxter,"  on  the  other,  leaves  one  in  little  doubt,  that 
each  side  under  political  influence,  pressed  its  advantage  too 
far,  when  the  opportunity  offered.  It  is  ever  so  in  troublous  times 
when  man's  reason  becomes  subject  to  his  prejudice,  and  modera- 
tion, which  is  a  tempered  product  begotten  of  looking  at  both 
sides  of  a  question,  is  accounted  a  quality  akin  to  cowardice  or, 
at  least,  to  weakness. 

The  fact  remains  that  Puritanism  increased  considerably  and 
planted  itself  firmly  in  the  hearts  of  a  section  of  the  Welsh  people 
before  the  end  of  the  period  under  notice.  Independents, 
Baptists,  Quakers,  and  Presbyterians  worshipped  in  comparative 
freedom  before  its  close,  following  upon  the  Toleration  Act  of 
1689,  which  removed  many  disabilities  grievous  to  be  borne. 

'Calamy's  "Ejected  Ministers," 
10 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

The  literature  produced  in  Wales,  or  pertaining  to  it,  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  will  for  the  purposes  of  this  work  be  classified 
under  the  following  divisions  : 

I.     Historical,  Archaeological,  and  Topographical. 
II.     Religious  Works. 

III.  Poetical  Works. 

IV.  Grammar  and  Lexicography. 
V.     Miscellaneous. 

It  has  been  thought  the  better  plan  to  give  a  connected 
account  of  each  of  these  separately,  than  a  promiscuous  account 
in  the  order  of  their  production,  although,  as  far  as  possible, 
chronological  order  will  be  observed  in  each  division.  As  the 
interest  of  the  student  is  increased  when  facts  can  be  associated 
with  some  personal  entity,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  collect 
accurate  biographical  details  of  the  persons  mainly  concerned 
in  making  the  seventeenth  century  the  important  literary  epoch 
it  proved  to  be. 


XX 


CHAPTER    I 

HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  AND  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

(a)  THE  PERIOD  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

(b)  THE  CIVIL  WAR  PERIOD. 

(c)  THE  SECOND  INSURRECTION  PERIOD. 

(d)  SATIRES  AND  LAMPOONS. 

(e)  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD. 

(f)  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE  END 

OF  THE  I;TH  CENTURY. 


(a)  THE  PERIOD  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

The  number  of  books  and  tracts  to  be  considered  under  this 
head  is  not  very  numerous,  but  inasmuch  as  it  includes  the  works 
of  such  men  as  Camden  and  Usher  this  section  forms  a  most 
instructive  part  of  the  literature  of  the  period. 

A  writer  of  great  distinction  whose  mind  was  steeped  in 
antiquarian  learning  was  the  celebrated  William  Camden.* 
In  1602  he  edited  Giraldi  Cambrensis  Cambria;  Descriptio.  This 
was  a  second  edition  of  Giraldus'  work ;  the  first  had  been 
published  by  Dr.  David  Powell  in  I585.1 

In  1603  Camden  issued  Itinerarium  Cambria:,  which  is  really 
part  of  a  fuller  work  which  appeared  in  the  same  year  under  the 
title  Anglica,  Normannica,  Hibernica,  Cambrica,  a  veteribus  Scripta, 
GuI.  Camdeno,  Assents  Mencvensis,  de  &lfredi  rebus ;  Thomas 
Walsingham,  Hist.  Ang. ;  Ypodigmce  Neiisbria?,  per  Tho.  de 
Walsingham  ;  Itinerarium  Cambria  Auctore  Sylv.  Giraldo  Cam- 
brense,  cum  annotationibus  D.  Poveli.  This  larger  work  which 
was  printed  at  Frankfort  consists  of  ten  parts,  of  which  the  last 
two,  Itinerarium  Cambria?  and  Cambria  Descriptio  have  reference 
to  Wales,  which  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Dr.  David  Powell 
and  William  Camden  for  presenting  anew  the  interesting  accounts 
of  Giraldus'  "  Itinerary  "  and  "  Description  of  Wales."  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Camden  had  published  his  own  great  work 
"Britannia"  in  1586,  seven  years  before  he  became  the  head  of 
Westminster  School.  This  went  through  many  editions,  several 
of  which  were  published  in  the  i;th  century. 

*William  Camden,  surnamed  the  learned,  was  son  of  Sampson  Camden, 
a  native  of  Lichfield,  and  one  of  the  painter  -stainers  of  London,  where 
William  was  born  in  1551,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Sepulchre.  He  was  educated 
at  Christ  Church  Hospital,  then  newly  founded,  and  thence  proceeded  to  the 
Free  School  founded  by  Dean  Colet.  In  1566  he  became  a  chorister  at 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  where  he  just  missed  being  a  Demy,  "though  of 
great  desert."  He  was  transferred  to  Pembroke  College  and  afterwards  to 
Christ  Church.  He  lost  a  Fellowship  of  All  Souls  for  "  defending  the 

'.Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  30. 

IS 


WALES   IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

In  1604  he  published  his  "Remains  of  a  greater  work  con- 
cerning Britain"  an  interesting  book  of  fragments  gathered  while 
he  was  engaged  upon  "  Britannia"  which  is  the  greater  work  to 
which  the  title  alludes,  and  which  was  published  in  folio  in  1607. 

In  1 6 10  appeared  "  A  Description  of  the  Counties  of  Wales" 
from  Holland's1  edition  of  Camden. 

In  1614  Camden's  "Remains  concerning  Britain"  was 
published  by  John  Legatt,  and  in  1623  another  edition  of  the 
"  Remains  "  appeared. 

In  1639  was  published,  at  Amsterdam,  "  Re  rum  Anglicarum 
et  Hibernicarum  Annales,  regnante  Elizabetha.  Auctore  Gnillielmo 
Camdeno." 

In  1637  the  "Remains  concerning  Britain"  A?as  again 
published  "  by  the  industry  and  care  of  John  Philipot,  Somerset 
Herald  and  W.  D.,  Gent."  This  is  stated  on  the  title-page  to  be 
the  sixth  impression  of  the  " Remains"  and,  it  is  added,  "  with 
many  rare  antiquities  never  before  imprinted."  This  was  followed 
by  the  seventh  impression  of  the  same  work  by  the  same  editors 
in  1674. 

In  1695  the  last  edition  of  "  Britannia  "  which  appeared  in 

religion  then  established,"  the  Popish  party  in  All  Souls  having  opposed  him. 
In  1575  he  became  second  master  of  Westminster  School,  and  Parry,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  was  one  of  his  scholars  there.  He  made  several 
journeys  to  obtain  the  information  which  he  incorporated  in  his  "  Britannia," 
a  work  which  was  written  "  at  spare  hours  and  on  festival  days."  His  patron, 
Gabriel  Goodman,  defrayed  the  charges  for  these  journeys,  one  of  which  in 
1590  he  undertook  into  Wales  in  the  company  of  Francis  Goodwin  of  Christ 
Church,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandnff.  In  1593  he  was  made  Head  of 
Westminster  School  where,  in  1597,  he  published  his  Greek  Grammar.  In 
that  year  he  was  created  Herald  of  Aims  and  afterwards  King  of  Arms  "at 
the  favour  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  In  1621  he  founded  the  History  Lecture  of 
Oxford  University.  Wood  describes  him  as  "  an  exact  critic  and  philologist, 
an  excellent  Grecian,  Latinist,  and  Historian,  and  above  all  a  profound 
antiquary,  as  his  elaborate  works  testifie."  "  His  fame  will  be  permanent  so 
long  as  this  kingdom  is  known  by  the  name  of  Britannia"  He  died  in  1623, 
and  was  buried  at  Westminster  Abbey,  a 

a  For  further  information  and  description  of  his  works,    see  Ath  :  Oxon  : 
I.  408  -  411. 

'Holland  had    been    educated    under    Camden   at    Westminster.      See 
Williams'    "  Eminent    Welshmen"   p.   219. 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

this  century  was  published  by  Bishop  Gibson  and  printed  in 
London.  Three  others1  appeared  in  the  i8th  century,  which 
showed  the  popularity  of  the  work  amongst  scholars. 

-  George  Owen  (1552-1613)  of  Henllys,  Lord  of  Kernes,  in 
the  County  of  Pembroke,  did  great  service  by  writing  The  Descrip- 
tion of  Penbrokshire  in  1603.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  that 
County  and  gloried  in  its  title,  "  Little  England  beyond  Wales/'3 
There  is  no  record  of  the  place  of  his  education,  but  he  was  a  most 
capable  and  industrious  writer,  especially  on  matters  concerning 
his  own  County  and  the  "Barony  of  Kernes."  In  1587  and  1602 
he  served  as  Sheriff  of  Pembroke.  He  had  intended  to  publish 
a  second  part  of  the  above  work,  but  it  never  reached  completion. 
The  Description  of  Penbrokshire  was  edited  by  Fenton  in  the 
second  volume  of  the  Cambrian  Register  in  1796,  but  it  was  a 
work  full  of  blemishes.  The  map  of  Pembrokeshire  appended  to 
George  Owen's  work  is  a  facsimile  of  that  furnished  by  him  to 
William  Camden  for  the  sixth  edition  of  Britannia  (1607).  He 
also  wrote  Taylors  Cussion,  which  has  since  been  published  with 
a  short  biography  of  the  author,  by  Emily  M.  Prit chard  (Olvven 
Perys)  in  1906.  Mr.  Lleufer  Thomas,  who  has  written  the 
account  of  George  Owen  for  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography, 
has  recently  published  his  Description  of  Milford  Havon.  He 
was  a  most  prolific  writer,  and  amongst  his  other  works  may  be 
mentioned,  Baronia  de  Kernes  and  the  Vairdre  Book. 

In  1609  appeared  "A  Myrroure  for  Magistrates."  The 
original  "  Mirror"  which  appeared  in  1559,  is  generally  ascribed 
to  William  Baldwyn,  a  noted  poet  of  his  time,  and  is  a  piece  of 
historical  poetry  relating  the  acts  of  unfortunate  Englishmen, 
commencing  with  the  fall  of  Robert  Tresilian,  Chief  Justice,  and 
ending  with  George  Plantagenet,  third  son  of  the  Duke  of  York. 
It  is,  however,  stated  by  Francis  Meres  in  the  second  part  of  Wits 
Commonwealth  that  the  author  was  Edward  Ferrers.2  It  is 
quite  certain  that  two  of  the  poems,  "  The  fall  of  Robert 
Tresilian,  Chief  Justice  of  England  "  and  "  The  unlawful  murder 
of  Thomas  of  Woodstok,  Duke  of  Glocester "  are  the  work  of 

'See  Llyfr.    y    Cymry  under    dates   1701,    1772,    1789.  2Athenae 

Oxonienses  i.  113. 

17 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

Ferrers.1  The  purport  of  the  work  is  to  show  by  examples  how  evil- 
doers "  are  punished  by  grievous  plagues."  The  Welsh  interest 
of  the  1609  edition  centres  round  its  references  to  Morgan,  King 
of  Morganwg ;  Cadwaladr,  and  Owain  Glyndwr.  It  describes 
the  pursuit  of  the  latter  by  Prince  Henry,  and  his  miserable  death 
from  starvation. 

In  1610  John  Speed  published  a  map  of  the  Principality,  the 
first  of  its  kind,  together  with  separate  maps  of  each  County  in 
Wales  and  Monmouthshire.  On  many  of  them  there  is  given  a 
short  description  of  the  county,  its  inhabitants,  and  most 
important  towns.  In  that  of  the  Principality,  appear  views  of 
some  of  the  towns  and  cities.  In  1614,  the  same  author  published 
"  The  TJieatre  of  the  Empire  of  Great  Britaine" *  in  which  he 
aimed  at  giving  "  an  exact  geography."  Wales  and  its  counties 
are  herein  described.  (Another  edition  of  the  work  appeared  in 
1676).  In  1616,  John  Speed  showed  his  further  interest  in  Wales 
by  publishing  "  The  Seconde  Booke,  containing  the  Principality  of 
Wales,  delivering  an  exact  Topographic  of  the  Counties,  Divisions 
of  the  Cantreves  and  Commotes,  Description  of  the  Cities  and  Shire 
Towns :  with  a  compendious  Relation  of  things  most  memorable  in 
every  one  of  them  performed  "  and  in  1627  appeared  an  abridge- 
ment of  this  larger  work.2 

A  work  entitled  "  A  Map  of  Commerce"  by  Lewis  Roberts, 
a  native  of  Anglesey,  who  was  at  the  time  a  merchant  in  London, 
and  brother-in-law  to  the  then  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  was 
published  in  1620.  It  is  a  folio  volume  and  contains  several 
Latin  poems  complimentary  to  the  author,  one  by  John  Davies, 
probably  Dr.  John  Davies  of  Mallwyd.3 

*Wood  says  of  John  Speed's  great  work  "  As  for  Speed's  part  in  the  said 
History  of  Great  Britain,  it  is  such  for  style  and  industry,  that  for  one  who  (ns 
Martial  speaks)  had  neither  a  Graecum  xa'Pe  or  an  -^ve  Latinum,  is  perhaps 
without  many  fellows  in  Europe.  So  much  also  have  I  understood  of  him  by 
sure  information,  that  he  had  no  meaning  in  that  labour  to  prevent  great 
practick  learnedness,  but  to  furnish  it  for  the  common  service  of  England's 
glory."  Ath  :  Oxonri.  p.  452. 

'Garnett  and  Gosse  in  their  "  History  of  English  Literature,"  vol.  ii. 
p.  131,  state  that  Ferrers  and  Baldwin  were  jointly  responsible.  2Llyfr.y 
Cymry,  p.  85.  ^Ceinion  Alun,  p.  76. 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Thomas  Powell,  who  is  more  generally  known  by  the  title 
"  A  Cambrian  "  to  distinguish  him  from  another  author  of  the 
same  name  who  wrote  later  in  the  century,  produced  in  1601 
"  The  Passionate  Poet "  (with  a  description  of  the  Thracian 
Ismarus),  and  in  1603  a  work  entitled  "A  Welch  Payte  to  Spare 
Provender,  or  a  Looking  Backe  upon  the  times"  The  former  work 
brought  him  into  considerable  notice.  He  was  also  the  author  of 
a  "  Direction  for  Search  of  Records  in  the  Chancerie,  Towert 
Exchequer,  for  the  clearing  of  all  such  Titles  and  Questions  as  the 
same  may  concerne,  ivith  the  accustomed  Fees  of  Search"  1622. 

Another  work  which  involved  the  investigation  of  the  records 
in  the  Tower  and  other  original  MSS.  was  that  compiled  by  Sir 
John  Doderidge,*  a  Judge  of  the  King's  Bench,  in  1630,  under 
the  title  "  The  History  of  the  Ancient  and  Moderne  Estate  of  the 
Principality  of  Wales,  Duchy  of  Cornewall,  and  Earldome  of 
Chester."  This  book  was  dedicated  to  King  James,  and  was 
published  after  the  author's  death.  It  was  considered  of  sufficient 
importance  to  necessitate  a  second  edition  in  1714. 

A  noted  traveller  of  his  time,  Sir  Thomas  Herbert,  kinsman  of 
William  Herbert,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  produced  a  volume  entitled 
"  Travels  in  Wales,"  in  1635.  Amongst  other  things  he  gives  an 
account  of  Madoc  ab  Owain's  departure  for  America  taken  from 
a  MS.  at  Rhaglan  Castle,  one  of  the  fortresses  afterwards 
destroyed  by  Cromwell.1  The  landing  of  Madoc  in  America  is 
now  regarded  as  purely  fictitious. 

Sir  Thomas  Herbert  also  recounts  his  own  visits  to  Asia  and 
Africa,  in  publications  issued  in  1634  and  1638.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  he  sided  with  the  Parliament  and  became  a 
Commissioner,  but  afterwards,  when  put  to  guard  Charles  I.  he 
seceded  to  the  Royalists.  He  gave  a  historical  account  of  the 
two  last  years  of  Charles  I.,  entitled  Threnodia  Carolina,  published 
in  1678.  A  very  interesting  portion  of  this  history  is  given  by 

*Sir  John  Doderidge  was  born  at  Barnstaple,  and  educated  at  Exeter 
College,  Oxford.  He  died  in  1628.  The  learned  Camden  styles  him 
antiquarius  inst'gnis.  — Wood  vol.  i.  pp.  442  -  444. 

lLfyfr.y  Cymry,  p.   121. 


Wood  in  his  Athenae  Oxonienses.1  Herbert  also  assisted  Dugdale 
with  his  "  Monasticon  Anglicanum" 

Three  editions  of  the  works  of  Gildas  appeared  in  this 
century,  the  first  in  1610  in  the  " Bibliothcca  Patrum,"  bearing 
the  title  "  Gildae  de  Excidio  et  Conquesta  Britanniae  Epistola." 
This  is  a  great  improvement  on  the  imperfect  publication  of 
Gildas'  work  in  1525.  In  1638  Thomas  Habington,  Hindlip 
Hall,  Worcestershire,  the  father  of  William  Habington,  author  of 
the  Castara?  published  "  The  Epistle  of  Gildas,  the  most  ancient 

British  author,  ivho  flourished  in  tlie year  of  our  Lord,  546 

faithfully  translated  out  of  the  original  Latin."  In  spite  of  the 
latter  assertion,  the  translation  is  said  to  be  a  very  faulty  one. 
Another  edition  appeared  in  1652,  entitled  "A  Description  of  tlie 
State  of  Great  Britain,  written  eleven  hundred  years  since" 

Another  writer  to  whom  Wales  is  considerably  indebted  in 
this  period  is  the  distinguished  Irish  prelate  and  celebrated 
antiquarian,  Archbishop  Usher.  During  the  period  of  his  exile 
from  Ireland  he  was  closely  associated  with  Wales,  and  did  much 
to  the  advantage  of  the  Welsh  nation  in  reviving  its  knowledge 
of  the  Ancient  British  Church.  His  well  -  known  work,  "  De 
Primordiis  Ecclesiarum  Britannicarum"  more  generally  known  as 
"  The  Primordia"  concerns  the  antiquities  of  that  church  from  its 
foundation  to  the  end  of  the  yth  century.  Usher  is  an  accepted 
authority  on  this  period.  He  had  graduated  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  in  1600,  and  on  visiting  this  country  in  1606,  became 
acquainted  with  many  noted  antiquarians  at  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
and  London,  and  took  particular  interest  in  old  libraries.  Return- 
ing to  Ireland  he  became  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Trinity  and 
Chancellor  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  Subsequently  he  was 
promoted  to  the  Bishopric  of  Meath  in  1620,  and  became  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh  and  Primate  of  all  Ireland  in  1626.  He  was 
offered  by  Charles  I.  the  Bishopric  of  Carlisle  and  accepted  it. 
Then  came  the  upheaval  of  the  Civil  War,  when  Usher  lost  his 

'Vol.  ii.  pp.  690-705.  2  History  of  Eng.  Lit.  by  Garnett  and  Gosse, 
vol.  iii.  p.  22. 

80 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

emoluments  and  fell  on  evil  days.  Amidst  the  din  of  war  in  1644, 
in  retirement  at  Oxford,  he  published  the  works  of  Polycarp  and 
Ignatius.  He  had  by  this  time  lost  all  his  Irish  estates,  and 
driven  to  great  poverty  he  took  refuge  in  Wales  where  the  Welsh 
gentry  received  him  kindly.  The  Stradlings  of  St.  Donat's  Castle, 
who  were  foremost  in  the  rank  of  beneficent  patrons  to  literatteurs, 
gave  a  home  to  the  Archbishop  and  his  daughter,  who  had  married 
Sir  Timothy  Tyrrel,  governor  of  Cardiff  Castle,  which  had  now 
capitulated  to  the  Parliament.  It  is  related  that  on  one  occasion 
the  mob  fell  upon  the  Archbishop  and  despoiled  him  of  his  MSS., 
a  collection  by  which  he  set  great  store.  They  were,  however,  'for 
the  most  part  recovered  through  the  efforts  of  the  neighbouring 
gentry  and  clergy.  The  Archbishop  is  said  to  have  derived  much 
of  his  material  for  the  "  Primordia  "  from  the  MSS.  in  possession 
of  the  Stradlings  at  St.  Donat's,1  and  from  his  intercourse  with  the 
learned  antiquarian,  Robert  Vaughan,  of  Hengwrt,  who  had  an 
unrivalled  collection  of  MSS.  The  full  title-page  of  the  work 
reads : 

"  Britannicarum  |  Ecclesiarum  Antiquitates  |  Quibus  inserta 
est  pestiferae  j  adversus  Dei  gratiam  a  |  Pelagio  Britanno  in  | 
Ecclesiam  inductse  |  Haereseos  Historia  |  Collectore  |  Jacobo 
Usserio  |  Archiepiscopo  Armachano  |  totius  Hibernige  Primate  | 
Dublinii  |  Ex  Officini  Typographies!  |  Societatis  Bibliopolarum  j 
Anno  CIDIDCXXXIX." 

Another  work  of  antiquarian  interest  was  produced  in 
1639,  the  full  title  of  which  was  "  Concilia,  Decreta,  Leges, 
Constitutiones,  in  Re  Ecclesiastica  Orbis  Britannia:  viz.,  Pam- 
britannica,  Pananglica,  Scotica,  Hibernica,  Mannica,  Provincialia, 
Diocesana,  ab  initio  Christianae  ibidem  Religionis  ad  nostrum 
usque  aetatem.  Opera  6°  Scrutinio  Henrici  Spelmann."  Sir 
Henry  Spelman,  the  author  of  this  work,  which  is  briefly  known 
as  the  "  Concilia"  was  a  Norfolk  gentleman  who  was  born  at 
Congham  in  that  county  in  1562.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  and  thence  passed  to  Lincoln's  Inn  to  study 

lLlyfr.y  Cymryt  p.  124. 

21 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

law.  But  he  retired  from  that  profession  to  pursue  the  archaeo- 
logical studies  in  which  he  was  engrossed,  and  produced  many 
works  of  great  interest  which  brought  him  into  particular  favour 
with  Charles  I.  At  his  death  in  1641,  the  King  ordered  that  he 
should  be  buried  at  Westminster  Abbey,  close  to  Camden's 
Memorial.  His  "  Concilia  "  is  the  only  part  of  his  work  which 
includes  Wales  in  its  scope.  A  second  edition  of  it  was  issued  in 
1664. 

(b)  THE  CIVIL  WAR  PERIOD. 

This  period,  which  is  one  of  the  darkest  in  British  history, 
albeit  that  it  heralded  a  brighter  dawn,  produced  very  little 
literature  in  this  part  of  our  subject,  that  is  of  solid  and  abiding 
interest,  as  far  as  it  affects  Wales.  But  what  there  is  enables  us  to 
follow  the  movements  of  that  age  of  upheaval  and  unrest.  As 
literature,  many  of  the  productions  are  almost  worthless,  but  they 
are  indispensable  to  the  historian  who  requires  detailed  knowledge 
to  reconstruct,  bit  by  bit,  the  story  of  those  chaotic  times.  Most 
of  them  arc  documents  dealing  directly  with  the  war  itself,  as  will 
be  seen. 

In  1640  an  Act  was  passed  "for  the  Relief  of  his  Majesties 
Armie,  and  tJie  Northern  parts  of  the  Kingdom."  It  is  plain  from 
this  that  a  Civil  War  was  already  contemplated,  for  part  of  the 
Act  was  to  appoint  "  Commissioners  for  the  different  Counties  of 
Wales,  previous  to  the  Civil  War."  This  Act  was  printed  in 
Black  Letter,  and  contains  the  names  of  the  royal  nominees  for 
the  Welsh  counties,  Hereford,  and  Shrewsbury,  on  the  eve  of  the 
outbreak.1 

A  writer,  wrongly  supposed  to  have  been  Arise  Evans,2  took 
upon  himself  to  interpret  in  English  some  of  the  old  prophecies 
and  cryptic  utterances  of  the  Welsh  bards  of  a  former  age  which 
refer  to  the  coming  of  a  saviour  of  the  nation.  His  method  is 
to  take  the  Welsh  verses  separately  and  to  insert  below  each 
its  English  translation.  The  "  Koronog  Faban"  "  Hoi  an  a 

1  See  J.  C.  Hotten's    Catalogue,        "Hants  Lknyddiaeth  Cymry,  p.  430. 
22 


HISTORICAL.  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

PhirckelLm"  and  other  so -called  prophecies  are  treated  in  this 
way.  The  title  given  to  the  work  is  "  A  Brit-Jit  Northern 
Star"  and  Gwilym  Lleyn  has  added  the  date  a  3  1640. 
This  is,  however,  incorrect.  The  work,  which  is  of  great 
interest,  appeared  in  1658.  It  is  the  first  attempt  to  print  some 
of  the  so-called  prophecies,  which  previously  existed  in  manu- 
script only.  The  full  title  of  the  book,  taken  from  the  copy  in 
the  University  College  Library  at  Bangor,  is  as  follows  : 

"British  and  Out-landish  Prophesies  :  most  |  of  above  a  1,000 
years  Antiquity,  |  the  rest  very  Antient ;  |  Fore-telling]  The 
several  Revolutions  which  hath  and  j  shall  befal!  the  Sceptre  of 
England  ;  |  the  Coming  in  of  the  Normans,  Continuance  and 
Ex-  |  tirpation ;  the  late  Warrs ;  the  late  Kings  death ;  his 
High-  |  ness's  Conquest  and  arrival  to  the  Sceptre,  Sovereigntie  | 
and  Government  of  Great  Brittain ;  the  fall  of  the  Turk,  |  Pope, 
Emperor  of  Germany,  and  most  of  the  great  |  Princes  of  the 
world  by  their  particular  names ;  |  and  that  his  Highness  that  now 
is  shall  |  Conquer  most  of  them  : 

Also 

His  Highnesses  lineal  descent  from  the  antient  Princes  of  | 
Britain,  clearly  manifesting  that  Hee  is  the  Conqueror  |  they  so 
long  prophesied  of,  Also,  a  short  account  of  the  late  |  Kinqs 
Original ;  for  |  the  satisfaction  of  the  Intelligent  in  either  | 

Tongue. 

By  Thomas  Pugh,  Gentleman. 
London 

Printed,  and  are  to  be  sold  by  Lodowick  Lloyd  at  his  Shop  |  next 
to  the  Castle  in  Cornhill.  1658." 

Bearing  upon  the  unrest  of  the  time  is  a  tract  entitled 
"  Arguments  proving  the  Jurisdiction  used  by  the  President  and 
Counsell  in  the  Marches  of  Wales  over  the  Counties  of  Gloucester, 
Worcester,  Hereford,  and  Salop,  to  be  illegall  and  injurious,  and 
a  meere  incroachment  beyond  their  appointed  limits,  and  the 
Proof  e  is  like  a  three -fold  cord  not  easily  broken.  Viz.  By 
Statutes.  By  Law  Bookes.  By  Records.  Printed  for  Thomas 
Wakley,  1641," 

•4 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Petitions  to  the  King  and  Parliament  and  kindred  docu- 
ments, and  papers  relating  to  the  war,  were  of  such  frequent 
occurrence  that  their  names  only  can  be  given  here,  leaving  it  to 
the  historians  to  probe  their  full  meaning  and  import : — 

"  The  Humble  Petition  of  the  Gentry,  Clergy,  and  others, 
inhabitants,  subscribed  of  the  six  Counties  of  Flint,  Denbigh, 
Montgomery,  Carnarvon,  Anglesey,  Merioneth,  being  the  six 
shires  of  North  Wales,  as  it  was  presented  to  the  Knights, 
Citizens,  and  Burgesses  in  Parliament,  accompanied  with 
30,000  hands.  Printed  for  F.  Couls,  1641." 
"Two  Petitions  presented  to  the  King's  most  Excellent 
Majesty  at  Yorke,  the  first  of  August,  1642  ;  the  first  from 
the  Gentery,  Ministers,  &c.,  of  the  Counties  of  Denbigh, 
Anglesey,  Glamorgan,  and  the  whole  Principality  of  Wales, 
&c.  London,  1642." 

"  His  Majesty's  Speech  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Denbighshire 
and  Flintshire,  27  Sept,  1642." 

In  it  Charles  seeks  the  favour  of  these  counties  by  making 
them  lavish  promises.  He  desired  the  Sheriffs  to  make  known 
his  purpose,  for  his  press  had  been  stopped. 

"  Two  Speeches  made  in  the  House  of  Peers  against  Accomo- 
dation,  by  the  Earl  of  Pembroke.  1642." 
"  Persuasion  to  Loyalty,  or  the  Subject's  Dutie,  wherein  is 
proved  that  resisting  or  deposing  of  K^ngs  (under  what 
specious  pretences  soever  couched)  is  utterly  unlawful.  By 
David  Owen.  1642.'' 

"  A  Loving  and  Loyall  Speech  spoken  unto  the  Excellency 
of  our  noble  Prince  Charles  by  Sir  Hugh  Vaughan,  the 
2nd  of  October,  at  Ragland  Castle,  in  Monmouthshire,  in 
Wales,  also  the  manner  of  his  brave  entertainment,  and  a 
Relation  of  divers  rich  Presents  brought  unto  him.  1642." 
"  A  Collection  of  Sundry  Petitions  Presented  to  the  King's 
Most  Excellent  Majestic  by  most  of  the  Gentry,  Ministers, 
Freeholders  of  Six  Counties  of  North  Wales,  Hereford, 

24 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Chester,  &c.,  in  behalf  of  Episcopacie,  Liturgie,  and  Church 
Revenue.  1642." 

"  To  the  Honourable  Court  The  House  of  Commons,  the 
Humble  Petition  of  many  Hundred  Thousands,  inhabiting 
within  the  Thirteene  Shires  of  Wales,  with  their  motion 
that  their  country  may  be  more  strongly  fortified  with  Armes 
and  Ammunition.  1642." 

The  complaint  in  this  Petition  was  that  Wales  had  been 
treated  with  disrespect,  that  many  droves  of  animals  had  been 
taken  from  their  lands,  and  that  they  had  no  arms  to  meet  the 
depredations.1 

The  first  document  which  mentions  that  the  opposing  forces 
had  met  in  battle  on  Welsh  soil  was  published  in  1643  and 
entitled  : 

"  A  true  Relation  of  the  discomfiting  and  routing  of  the  Earl 
of  Carbery,  and  his  forces  of  the  County  of  Pembroke, 
manned  and  performed  under  God  by  the  valiant  and 
courageous  gentlemen,  Col.  Rowland  Laugharne,  John  Poyer, 
Mayor  of  Pembroke;  Major  Thomas  Laugharn,  Simon 
Thelwall,  and  Arthur  Owen,  Esq.,  Capt.  Powel  and  Capt. 
Cuney,  and  other  well  -  affected  Commanders  and  Gentle- 
men, &c.  London.  1643." 

"  A  Copie  of  a  Letter  to  the  Lord  Marquesse  of  Hartford 
from  the  Lords  of  His  Majestie's  Council.  1642,"  discloses 
a  design  upon  the  life  of  Lord  Herbert  and  the  raising  of 
mounted  troops  and  infantry  in  the  County  of  Brecknock  in 
support  of  Charles  I.  A  pamphlet  which  appeared  the  following 
year  relates  the  defeat  of  Lord  Herbert.  It  is  entitled  : 

"  Famous  victorie  obtained  by  Sir  William  Waller  against 
Lord  Herbert  and  the  Welch  Cavaliers  in  the  Forest  of 
Deane,  where  600  of  the  Welchmen  were  slaine,  and  1,000 
taken  prisoners.  1643." 

There  are  two  documents  which  furnish  the  first  evidence 
we  have  that  the  struggle,  as  far  as  Wales  was  concerned,  was 
*Llyfr.yCy>nry>  p.  132- 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

developing  into  a  religious  as   well  as  a  constitutional  upheaval. 

This  phase  had  been  prominent  in  England  from  the  start,  and  it 

is  worthy  of  note  that  it  spread  from  England  into  Wales.     The 

first  of   these   has   been  already  mentioned,    and  was  from  the 

Episcopalians.     The  second  was  from  their  opponents  and  was 

presented  to  the  King  in  1643  when  he  was  at  Oxford.      It  runs  : 

"  The    Copies   of  such  Bills  as  were   presented   unto   His 

Majestic   at   Oxon,    for   the  suppression  of  Innovations  in 

Churches  and  Chapels ;  the  utter  abolishing  and  taking  away 

of  the  Bishops,  Chaunters,  Choristers,  Scandalous  Clergymen, 

Pluralities,  &c,,  in  Wales.     1643." 

An  interesting  document  published  in  1642  throws  light 
upon  the  leaders  of  the  respective  military  parties  in  Wales.  It  is 
entitled : 

"  Army  List  of  Charles  I.  and  the  Parliament  Troops ;  or 
the  names  of  all  the  Officers  in  the  "  Royalist "  Army,  and 
those  "  Roundhead "  Armies,  commanded  by  Fairfax  and 
Cromwell,  giving  the  names  of  several  Welsh  Worthies. 
1642." 

By  1644,  the  Parliament  was  rapidly  gaining  the  ascendency 
in  the  border  counties  and  in  other  parts  of  the  country  (the 
two  victories  in  South  Wales  have  been  noticed  above),  and 
in  that  year  there  was  issued  : 

"  A  Declaration  published  by  Sir  Thomas  Middleton,  Knight," 
the  purport  of  which  was  to  deter  those  who  would  rally  the 
King's  forces  in  Wales,  by  making  known  the  Parliamentarian 
successes.  That  the  Parliament  was  also  preparing  for  a  public 
thanksgiving  is  seen  from  a  pamphlet  entitled  : 

"  God  appearing  for  the  Parliament.  In  sundry  late 
Victories  Bestowed  on  their  Forces,  which  command  and 
call  for  great  Praise  and  Thanksgiving  both  from  Parliament 
and  People.  Die  Martis ;  4  Martii.  1644.  Ordered  by  the 
Commons  House  of  Parliament,  that  Mr.  Whitaker,  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington,  Mr.  Rous,  and  Mr.  Millington,  do 
peruse  all  the  Letters  that  are  come  from  Shrewsbury, 
26 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Plimouth,  Scarborough,  Gloucestershire,  and  Weymouth : 
and  make  a  narrative  out  of  them,  of  all  God's  great  and  late 
mercies  upon  the  Parliament  Forces,  to  be  printed  and  read 
on  the  next  day  of  Publique  Thanksgiving.  H.  Elsynge, 
Cler.  Parl.  D.  Com.  Printed  at  London  for  Edward 
Husbands :  March  10,  1644." 

The  interest  of  this  document  to  Wales  is  that  in  the  list  of 
prisoners  taken  at  Shrewsbury  occur  many  Welsh  names,  and  it 
also  contains  an  account  of  the  taking  of  Cardigan  Castle  by  the 
Parliament  Army,  when  they  secured  "  five  officers,  200  soldiers, 
six  big  guns,  150  smaller  arms,  and  much  ammunition  and  stores." 

The  tide  of  victory  swept  on  for  the  Parliament  as  shown  by 
the  following  publications.  In  April,  1644,  was  printed  : 

"  A  true  relation  of  the  Routing  His  Majestie's  Forces  in  the 
County  of  Pembroke,  under  the  command  of  the  Earl  of 
Carbery,  by  those  valiant  and  courageous  gentlemen,  Colonell 
Rowland  Langharne,  John  Poyer,  Simon  Thelwall,  Thomas 
Langharne,  and  others  well -affected.  As  it  was  sent  in  two 
several  relations,  of  the  Land  fight,  and  Sea  fight ;  The  one 
to  the  Honourable  Robert,  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  other  to 
the  Honourable  William  Lenthal,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  With  the  number  of  such  Ordnance, 
Arms,  Ammunition,  Castle  Commanders,  and  Souldiers  as 
are  taken,  and  that  County  by  God's  blessing  cleared  of  the 
enemy,  n  April,  1644.  Ordered  by  the  Commons  assembled 
in  Parliament,  That  these  Relations  be  forthwith  printed  and 
published." 

"  A  Letter  from  Sir  William  Brereton,  Sir  Thomas 
Middleton,  Sir  John  Meldrum,  of  the  Great  Victory  (by 
God's  Providence)  given  them  in  Raising  the  Siege  from 
before  Montgomery  Castle.  And  how  they  routed  and 
totally  dispersed  his  Majestie's  Forces,  under  the  command 
of  the  Lord  Byron  :  where  they  tooke  all  their  Carriages, 
Arms,  Ammunition,  and  made  them  fly  to  Shrewsbury,  and 

Chester.     1644." 

27 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

This  contains  a  full  account  of  the  taking  of  Montgomery 

Castle  and  a  "  List  "  of  about  200  Welsh  officials  who  supported 

the  King's  cause. 

"Continuation  of  Certain  Speciall  and  Remarkable  Passages, 

informed  to  the  Parliament.   1644." 

This   is   a   tract   which  gives  an  account   of   the   work  of 

"  Colonel  Breese  "  in  Pembrokeshire. 

"  Two  great  Victories,  one  obtained  by  the  Earle  of  Denbigh 

at   Oswestry,  and  how  he  took  20   Gentlemen  of  Wales,  &c., 

the  other  Victory  by  Colonell  Mitton.     1 644." 

"Sir  T.    Middleton's   letter   concerning   the   raising   of  the 

Siege  at  Oswestree.     1644." 

"  England's  Tears  for  the  present  Wars,  which  for  the  Nature 

of  the  Quarrell,  the  quality   of    Strength,  the   diversity    of 

Battails,  Skirmishes,   Sieges,   &c.,    cannot  be  parallelled  by 

any  Age.     1644." 

The  author  of  this  last  was  James  Howell,  a  writer  whose 

further   works   will  be   presently   noticed.       He   gives   in   it   an 

account  of   the   sieges   of  Pembroke   Castle,  Montgomery,   and 

Cardigan. 

"  An  Ordinance  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  for  Raysing  and 
Maintaining  of  Horse  and  Foot  for  Monmouth,  Glamorgan, 
and  Brecknock,  Radnor,  Glocester,  and  Hereford.     1644." 
This  was  an  important  and  historic  tract  published  by  the 

Parliament. 

Two  publications  which  appeared  in  1 644  showed  the  interest 

of  Church  religious  leaders  in  the  principles  at  issue  in  the  Civil 

War.     They  are  entitled  : 

"  Discourse  before  the  unfortunate  Parliament  at  Oxford,  on 

the  only  way  to  preserve  life.     By  Griffith  Williams.     1644." 

And: 

"Jura  Majestatis"  the  Rights  of  Kings,  both  in  Church  and 

State,     i.  Granted  by  God.     2.  Violated  by  the  Rebels,  &c., 

and  the    Wickedness   of   the    Faction    of    this    pretended 

28 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Parliament  at  Westminster,  their  Rebellion,  Murder,  Roberie, 
&c.  Oxford,  1644." 

The  author,  Dr.  Griffith  Williams  (1587  - 1672)  was  a  promi- 
nent Welsh  clergyman,  who  became  Rector  of  Llanllechid,  Dean 
of  Bangor,  and  Bishop  of  Ossory.  He  was  born  at  Llanrug  in 
1587,  educated  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  1603,  whence  he 
proceeded  to  Cambridge.  He  then  became  chaplain  to  Philip, 
Earl  of  Montgomery,  in  1614,  Rector  of  St.  Bennet's,  London, 
chaplain  to  Charles  I.,  Prebendary  of  Westminster  in  1628, 
Dean  of  Bangor  and  Archdeacon  of  Anglesey,  1634,  and  Bishop 
of  Ossory  in  1641.  He  was  a  strong  Royalist,  and  in  addition  to 
the  two  productions  mentioned  above,  he  had  written  "  Vindiciae 
Regum"  in  1643,  for  which  he  was  imprisoned.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  "  The  Discovery  of  Mysteries."*  He  was  deposed  from 
his  bishopric  during  the  Commonwealth,  but  it  was  restored 
to  him  in  1661.  He  returned  to  Ireland  and  died  there  in  1672, 
and  was  buried  at  Kilkenny  Cathedral.2  His  religious  books 
will  be  noticed  later. 

In  1645  appeared  "  A  Letter  from  Captaine  Richard  Swanley 
to  the  Right  Honourable,  The  Earl  of  Warwick,  being  a  full 
relation  of  the  taking  of  the  town  and  castle  of  Cardigan, 
in  Wales,  by  Major  -  General  Laugharne,  with  above  too 
commanders  and  common  soldiers,  and  all  the  arms  and 
ammunition  therein,  &c.  Published  by  authority.  London, 
printed  for  John  Thomas.  1645." 

"  Several  Letters  of  Great  consequence  intercepted  by  Col. 

Mitton,    near   Ruthyn,   in  Wales,   concerning  Irish  Forces 

to  be  brought  into  England.     1646." 

On  November  2nd,  1645,  a  Public  Thanksgiving  was  held 
at  St.  Paul's,  London,  "  for  the  taking  in  of  the  Towns  and  Castles 
of  Carmarthen  and  Monmouth  in  Wales."  The  sermon  preached 
on  the  occasion  by  Simeon  Ash,  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines, 

1  This  was  published  in  1643  and  dealt  with  the  plots  to  overthrow  the 
Established  Religion.     See  Wood's  Athtn  :  Oxon  :  ii.  pp.  496  •  499. 
8  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen^  pp.  524  -  526. 


was  aftenvards  published  under  the  title  "  Reall  Thankfulnesse." 
It  is  claimed  that  it  expressed  the  general  feeling  of  the  country 
at  the  time.1 

Another  paper  issued  in  1645  describes  many  victories  of 
the  Parliament  in  South  West  Wales,  especially  that  at  Haver- 
fordwest.  It  is  entitled  : 

"  Oriens  ab  Occidente,  or  a  Dawning  in  the  West,  as  it  was 

delivered  in  a  Discourse  to  the  Long  Parliament,  upon  their 

day  of  Thanksgiving  for  several  Victories  in  the  West,  by 

John  Bond.     1645." 

A  similar  "Thanksgiving  Discourse"  was  delivered  by 
Thomas  Case  before  the  Long  Parliament  in  1645  "for  the 
gaining  of  the  Towns  in  the  West  and  for  the  dispersing  of  the 
Clubmen  and  the  good  success^in  Pembrokeshire." 

The  same  year  saw  the  publication  of : 

"An  Ordnance  of  the  Lords  and   Commons  assembled  in 

Parliament  for  the  more  effectual  putting  in  execution   the 

Directory  for  Publique  Worship,  in  all  Parish    Churches  and 

Chappells  in  Wales." 

In  1646-7  there  were  several  productions  relating  to  the 
history  of  the  Civil  War  in  Wales,,  amongst  which  may  be  noticed : 

"  Contemplation    upon    these    times,    or,    the     Parliament 

explained  to  Wales.     London,  1646." 

The  author  of  this  book  was  John  Lewis,  Esq.,  of  Glasgrug, 
near  Aberystwyth,  who  styles  himself  "  a  cordiall  Well  -  wisher  of 
his  Countries  happinesse." 2 

"  Conoway    taken   by   Storme,    By   Major  Generall  Mitton. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  Arch  -  Bishop  of  York  [i.e.  John 

Williams] also  how  all  the  Irish  were  bound  back 

to  back  and  thrown  into  the  Sea London  printed  by 

I.  C.     1646." 

"The  taking  of  Carnarvon,   the   Castle,    Works,   &rc.,    by 

Major  Generall  Mitton,  with  the  Articles  agreed  upon.     June 

5th,  1646." 

1  "  Carmarthen  and  i(s  Neighbourhood)"  by  Spurrell,  p.  5.  2  Llyfr.  y 

Cymry,    p.   140. 


In  1647  the  official  documents  relating  to  a  rising  in  Glamor- 
ganshire were  published  under  the  title  : 

"  A  full  relation  of  the  whole  proceedings  of  the  late  rising 
and  commotion  in  Wales,  under  pretence  for  the  King  and 
Sir  Thomas  Fairfax ;"  and  in  the  same  year, 
"  A  perfect  Diurnal  of  Passages  in  Parliament,"  relating  to 
the  same  rising  in  Glamorgan  which  also  spread  to  other  parts. 
There   were  in  all  about  1,000  men  under  arms  and  their  leaders 
were    "  Sir  Edward   Thomas,    Bart.,    Sir  Richard     Bassett,    Sir 
Henry    Stradling,    Col.    Kames,  &C."1     There  followed  a  paper 
from  a  body  of  disaffected  Parliamentarians  entitled : 

"A   Declaration   of   Engagements,    Remonstrances,    Repre- 
sentations, Resolutions,  £c.,  from  Sit  Thomas  Fairfax  and 
the  Army,  for  setting  his  Majesty  in  his  just  Rights,  and  the 
Subjects  in  their  Liberties  and  Freedom.     1647." 
The  gist  of  this  was  to  condemn  the  action  of  the  "  Com- 
missioners "   in  South  Wales.      It   was  stated   that  Sir  William 
Lewis  and  a   certain   "  Master  Glynn "  had  helped  rather  than 
hindered  Papists  and  Royalists.      Especially  had  this  happened 
in    the   case  of   Lord  Carbery,  Mr.    Crane,    Mr.    Herbert,    and 
others.2     It  implied  that  the  country  had  been  better  governed 
by   Charles,   to   whom   the  promoters   of  this  Declaration   now 
wished     to    restore     their     allegiance.      The    two    first- named 
members  thus  accused   wrote  a  reply   on  behalf  of  themselves 
and  the  rest,  entitled  : 

"  A  Full  Vindication  and  Answer  of  the  Eleven  Accused 

Members,  Denzill,  Sir  William  Lewis,  John  Glynne,  and  the 

rest,  to  the  late  Particular  Charge  or  Impeachment.     1647." 

How  the  money  was  raised  for  carrying  on  the  struggle  in 

the  Civil  War  is  instanced  in  a   paper  which  appeared  in   1647, 

which  gives  an  account   of  the  sums  required  from  every  shire 

in  Wales,  and   a  list   of  the   names   of  the   collectors   in   each 

county.     It  was  issued  under  the  title  : 

"  An  Ordinance  for  the  Raising  of  Money  to  be  employed 
1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  142.         2  Hotteri 'f  Catalogue. 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

toward   the    maintenance  of  Forces   within  the    Kingdom. 

1647."      It    was    followed   by    another    paper    concerning 

taxation,  bearing  the  title  : 

"A  Declaration  about  North  Wales  and  the   Taxes.     1647." 

This  document  has  regard  to  some  sums  of  money  that  had 
been  raised  from  the  poor  in  North  Wales  without  the  authority 
of  Parliament.  The  latter  required  to  know  who  the  culprits  were. 
It  was  also  decreed  in  this  year  what  forces  should  be  maintained 
in  North  and  South  Wales  respectively,  and  what  regiments 
should  be  disbanded.  One  hundred  mounted  men  under  Col. 
Mytton  in  the  North,  and  the  same  number  under  Col.  Langhorn 
in  the  South  were  to  be  maintained.  This  arrangement  appears  in 

"  Several  Notes   declaring  what  Forces  shall    be  continued 

in   the   Kingdome   of   England   and   Dominion  of    Wales, 

&c.     1647." 


There  is  no  more  interesting  figure  in  the  Civil  War  Period 
than  that  of  Judge  David  Jenkins  (?  1582-1663),  who  played  such 
a  conspicuous  part  in  relation  to  the  particular  events  with  which 
this  chapter  deals,  that  this  is  the  most  fitting  place  to  recount 
something  of  his  life  and  writings. 

This  eminent  lawyer  was  born  at  Hensol,  in  the  parish  of 
Pendeulwyn,  Glamorgan,  about  1582.  He  entered  St.  Edmund's 
Hall,  Oxford,  in  1597,  at  a  time  when  there  were  several  Welsh- 
men there.1  He  then  proceeded  to  Gray's  Inn,  and  afterwards 
was  appointed  a  Judge  in  South  Wales,  until  the  Civil  War  broke 
out,  when  his  strong  measures  against  rebels  attracted  notice. 
He  was  taken  prisoner  by  Cromwell's  Army  at  Hereford  in  1645 
and  put  into  the  Tower.  When  he  was  brought  to  his  trial  in 
Chancery  he  denied  the  authority  of  the  Court.  He  was  then 
committed  to  Newgate  and  impeached  of  high  treason  before  the 
Commons.  Refusing  to  recognise  their  authority  he  was  fined 
^1,000,  and  remanded  to  prison  in  Wallingford  Castle.  Whilst 
there  he  tried  to  bring  about  a  rupture  between  the  Army  and 
1  At  hen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  328-329,  and  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  248-249. 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

the  Parliament,  but  was  unsuccessful.  By  an  Act  of  1650, 
arrangements  were  made  for  his  trial  before  the  High  Court  of 
Justice.  Seeing  little  hope  of  escape,  he  determined  to  die  with 
the  Bible  under  one  arm  and  Magna  Charta  under  the  other. 
But  Harry  Marten  saved  his  life  by  reminding  the  Court  that 
"  sanguis  martyrum  est  semen  ecclesias."  Therefore,  he  was  sent 
back  to  imprisonment  at  Windsor  Castle,  and  eventually  liberated 
in  1656.  It  was  expected  that  at  the  Restoration  he  would  be 
made  a  Judge  at  Westminster,  but  scorning  the  bribery  of  that 
corrupt  period,  he  returned  to  his  South  Wales  estate,  and  died 
at  Cowbridge  in  1663.  Wood  sums  him  up  as  "a  vigorous 
maintainer  of  the  rights  of  the  crown,  a  heart  of  oak,  and  pillar  of 
the  law  and  of  the  people's  liberties'" x 

His  works  are  as  follows  : 

"  Judge  Jenkins'  Plea  delivered  unto  the  Earle  of  Manchester 

and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  which  was  read 

in  open  Court.     By  David  Jenkins,   prisoner   in   Newgate, 

1647."     It   was   privately   printed,   and   contained   a   sharp 

answer  to  the  Parliament. 

"  An  Apology  for  the  Army,  touching  the  8  Querries  upon 

the  late  Declarations,  also  touching  Sedition  falsely  charged 

upon  them.     By  David  Jenkins,  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of 

London.     Printed  1647." 

This  is  an  argument  whether  the  Army  belonged  to  Charles 

or  to  the  Parliament. 

"  Remonstrance   to  the  Lords  and   Commons   of  the   two 
Houses  of  Parliament.     1647."      This  was  also  written  from 
the  Tower. 
These  three  papers  produced  an  answer  "  by  H.  P.,  Barrister 

of  Lincoln's  Inn,"  1647  ;  to  whom  Jenkins  replied  in  : 

"The   Cordiall   of    Mr.    David    Jenkins.     1647," — a    very 

effective   paper   disposing  entirely  of  his  adversary's  arguments. 

Nor    was    Jenkins    afraid    in    his   captivity    in   the    Tower  to 

'for  further  details  of  his  life,  see  Malkin's  "South 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

challenge  the  doings  of  Parliament  as  unconstitutional  and  illegal. 
This  he  argues  in  : 

"A  Discourse  touching  the  inconveniences  of  a  Long -con- 
tinued Parliament,  and  the  Judgment  of  the  Law  of  the 
Land  in  that  behalf e.  1647." 

H.  P.,  or  Henry  Parker,  as  he  proved  to  be,  again  assailed  him 
with  "  An  Answer  to  the  Poysonous  Sedicious  Paper  by  Mr. 
David  Jenkins.  1647,"  to  which,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  great 
judge  deigned  no  reply. 

In  1648  Jenkins'  various  pamphlets  were  published  together 
under  the  title : 

"The  Works  of  that  Grave   and   Learned  Lawyer,   Judge 

Jenkins,  by  David  Jenkins,  prisoner  in  Newgate." 

In  the  same  year  was  published  an  account  of  his  trial  during 

which  he  was  accused  by  his  enemies  of  having  condemned  to 

death  some  innocent  persons  in  Wales  who  had  helped  the  Long 

Parliament.     The  great  lawyer  was,  however,  more  than  a  match 

for  his  judges,  and  in  spite  of  three  private  conferences  during 

the  trial,  they  failed  to  shake  him  from  the^sure  and  certain  ground 

of  the  Law  which  he  knew  so  well  and  defended  so  valiantly. 

The  work  is  called  : 

"  The  Trial  of  Judge  Jenkins,  at   the  House  of  Commons 
Barre,  upon  an  Impeachment  of  High  Treason,  with  heads 
of  the  charge  against  him.     And  his  Answer.     1648." 
The   last  of  his  writings  dealing   with   the   Civil   War   was 
published  in  the  same  year  under  the  title  : 

"The    Declaration   of  David  Jenkins,  late  prisoner  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  concerning  the  Parliament's  Army,    and 
the  Lawes  and  Liberties  of  England.     Printed  in  1648." 
Jenkins  has  been  described  as  "the  sharpest  thorn  in  the 
side  of  the  Parliament,"1  which  description  is  undoubtedly  true, 
or,  perhaps  it  is  best  put  in  his  own  words,  which  form  the  title  of 
one  of  his  papers  : 

"A  Scourge  for  the  Directory,  and  The  Revolting  Synod^ 
*  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.   148. 

34 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

which  hath  sitten  these  five  years,  more  for  four  shillings  a 
day  than  for  conscience  sake." 

Further  papers  of  his,   that   are  mentioned  in   the  Athena 
Oxonienses  are  : 

"  A  Recantation  of  Judge  Jenkins  .  .  .  delivered  at  West- 
minster, 1647,  to  Mr.  Corbet,  the  Chaireman  of  the 
Committee  of  Examination." 

"  Sundry  Acts  of  Parliament  mentioned  and   cited  in   the 
Army's  Indemnity,  set  forth  in  words  at  large.     1647." 
"  Lex  Terrae,"  1647 — a   paper  written   to   Gray's   Inn,  the 
Innes  of  Court,  and  to  all  the  professors  of  the  Law. 
Most   of    the    pamphlets    mentioned    above    were    printed 
together  in   "  Jenkinsius    Redevivus,    or,    The   Works   of   Judge 
Jenkins,    1648,"  as  before  stated.     His  portrait  appears  in  this 
book,  and  below  it  are  inserted  the  following  lines  : 

"  Here  Jenkyns  stands,  who  thundering  from  the  Tower 
Shook  the  Senate's  legislative  power  ; 
Six  of  whose  Words,  twelve  Khearns  of  Votes  exceed, 
As  Mountains  moved  by  Grains  of  Mustard  Seed. 
Thus  gasping  Laws  were  icscued  from  the  Snare. 
He  that  will  save  a  Crown  must  know  and  dare." 

Athen  :  Oxon :  ii.  329. 


It  is  evident  that  in  1648  all  was  not  going  well  with  the 
Welsh  Parliamentarians,  and  the  cleavage  which  was  taking  place 
is  instanced  in  "  The  Declaration  and  Resolution  of  Col.  John 
Poyer,  concerning  Lieut.  General  Cromwell,  and  the  particular 
relation  of  another  Great  Fight  in  Wales.  London,  1648."  Also 
"The  Declaration  of  Lieut.  General  Cromwell  concerning  his 
present  design  and  engagement  against  Col.  Poyer,  and  his 
Adherents  in  South  Wales.  London,  1648,"  which  was  a  reply  to 
the  former.  It  would  seem  that  a  misunderstanding  had  arisen 
between  Col.  Poyer  and  Col.  Horton,  culminating  in  sharp  dissen- 
sion. The  Roundheads  under  Horton  totally  routed  Col.  Poyer's 
forces  at  the  battle  of  St.  Ffagan's,  near  Cardiff.  Referring  to 
this,  Col.  Oakey  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  London  gave  "A  True 

u 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURA 

and  particular  Relation  of  the  late  Victory."1  This  was  followed 
by  "  A  List  of  the  persons  taken,  and  those  that  were  slain  by 
Collonell  Horton  in  South  Wales." 

The  disaffected  Parliamentarians  now  approached  Prince 
Charles  in  "  A  Declaration  of  Divers  Gentlemen  ...  of  Wales, 
with  their  propositions  to  his  Highnesse  Prince  Charles.  London. 
1648." 

Much  can  be  gleaned  of  the  particulars  of  the  internecine 
strife  in  Wales,  from  a  document  entitled  "  A  Declaration  of  the 
King's  Majestie's  Army,  with  their  Resolution  touching  the  late 
businesse  in  Wales,  with  the  proceedings  of  Major-General 
Laugharne,  and  the  Protestation  of  the  British  Forces  in  Wales. 
1648." 

Another  publication  which  also  throws  important  light  upon 
the  contending  parties  takes  the  form  of  "  Letters  from  Col. 
Horton  more  fully  relating  the  late  Fight  near  Cardiff,  with  a 
perfect  List  of  the  names  of  the  Prisoners,  Officers,  Private 
Gentlemen,  and  Soldiers  taken  in  the  said  Fight  and  Pursuit. 
1648." 

North  Wales  was  getting  exceedingly  tired  of  the  war,  as  the 
following  publication  shows  :  "  A  Declaration  and  Resolution  of 
the  Sheriffes,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  other  of  his  Majestie's 
well- affected  subjects,  in  the  Counties  of  Flint  and  Denbigh,  at  a 
generall  meeting  in  Wrexham,  wherein  they  declare  to  oppose  all 
forces  whatsoever  that  shall  enter  the  said  counties.  1648." 
This  contains  many  particulars  of  some  of  the  leading  inhabitants ; 
e.g.t  Sir  Thomas  Middleton,  Simon  Thelwall,  Col.  Thomas  Ravens- 
croft,  Col.  John  Aldersey,  Capt.  Luke  Lloyd,  and  John  Salisbury, 
Esq.,  of  Bachegraig.2 

A  poetical  work  entitled  "  A  New  Message  to  the  Royalists 
of  the  two  Kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland.  1648,"  gives  an 
account  of  the  proceedings  against  the  Royal  Navy  at  sea,  as  well 
as  of  the  Northern  Army  and  the  Welsh,  Cornish,  and  Scottish 
forces. 

1  Uyfr.  y  Cymryt  p.  146.  and  Civil  War  Tracts^  p.  39.  '  Lly/r,  y 
Cymry,  p.  147, 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

(c)  THE  SECOND  INSURRECTION  PERIOD. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  June,  1647,  when  many  of  the 
Presbyterian  members  had  fled  in  dismay  from  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  Independents  obtained  for  a  moment  a  majority  in 
Parliament.  The  victorious  party  then  proceeded  to  treat  with 
the  King,  offering  him  liberal  terms,  for  instance,  the  complete 
toleration  of  all  sects,  the  restriction  of  the  royal  power  over  the 
armed  forces  of  the  realm  for  ten  years  only,  and  a  pardon  for  all 
exiled  Royalists  except  five.1  The  King  refused  this  offer,  for  he 
had  formed  a  secret  plot  to  free  himself  from  both  Presbyterians 
and  Independents.  In  November,  1647,  he  escaped  from  his 
military  captors  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
From  Carisbrooke  Castle  in  that  island,  he  sent  new  offers  of 
terms  both  to  the  Army  and  to  Parliament,  his  object  being 
merely  to  gain  time.  In  1648,  the  Royalist  standard  was  raised 
in  the  North  at  Berwick,  and  a  committee  of  Scottish  lords  had 
sent  to  France  to  ask  the  young  Prince  of  Wales  to  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  his  father's  friends.  This  was  a  signal  for  the  general 
rising  of  English  Royalists,  and  insurrections  broke  out  all  over 
the  land,  even  in  the  Eastern  Counties  where  Puritanism  was  so 
strong.  Wales  was  also  affected  by  this  movement,  and  the 
leading  figure  was  Colonel  Poyer.  There  are  sixteen  productions 
on  record  in  the  Civil  War  Tracts,  N.  L.  W.,  and  elsewhere, 
relating  to  the  part  he  played. 

It  will  suffice  to  mention  a  few  of  them  here  : 
"  A  Short  Comment  upon  the  Grounds  and  Reasons  of 
Foyer's  taking  up  Arms  in  these  Second  Insurrections,  which 
reasons  are  most  abusively  represented  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  said  Poyer,  and  to  the  dishonour  of  the  Gentry  of  the 
County  of  Pembroke.  1648." 

This   was  printed  privately,  and  gives  many  particulars  of 
Pembroke  and  its  people,  and  of  Poyer's  "  humble  origin,  corrupt 
life,   enmity  to  religion,   his  ill-treatment   of    two    ministers   of 
'  Oman's  History  of  England,  p.  399. 

37 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

religion,  and  his  wantonness."  At  the  end  occurs  a  list  of  all  the 
battles  fought  in  the  Counties  of  Carmarthen,  Pembroke,  and 
Cardigan,  in  which  Poyer  took  part. 

This  pamphlet  brought  a  reply  from  the  Colonel,  which  is 
called : 

"  Foyer's  Vindication  in  Answer  to  a  lying  Pamphlet  in 
which  are  monstrous  lies,  scattered  abroad  to  uphold  the 
broken  reputation  of  a  poor  Solicitor,  for  those  cowardly 
turncoat  cavaliers  in  the  County  of  Pembroke.  Printed  in 
1648." 

This  was  also  printed  privately,  and  the  "  poor  solicitor " 
referred  to  was  one,  John  Elliott,  whom  Poyer  had  been  instru- 
mental in  dismissing  from  employment.  Both  one  and  the  other 
indulge  in  the  vilest  recriminations.  As  stated  before,  these 
productions  are  worthless  as  literature,  but  are  necessary  to  an 
understanding  of  the  times,  inasmuch  as  they  throw  sidelights  upon 
the  events  of  those  troubled  days.  The  Elliotts  were  really  a 
responsible  Narberth  family,  and  the  object  of  Foyer's  attack 
returned  to  the  charge  with  : 

"A  Just  Reply  to  a  false  and  scandalous  Paper,  intituled 
'  Foyer's  Vindication '  by  John  Elliott,  Esquire.  Printed 
1648." 

Foyer's  star,  however,  was  not  yet  on  the  wane,  for  the  next 
pamphlet  deals  with  the  sanguinary  conflict  at  Pembroke  Castle 
and  in  other  parts  of  South  Wales.  It  is  entitled  : 

"  Prince  Charles  his  Letter  brought  to  his  Excellency  General 
Fairfax,  and  the  Discovery  of  a  Plot ;  also  sad  news  from 
South  Wales  of  the  Defeating  of  the  Parliament  Forces  there, 
by  Colonel  Poyer,  the  men  killed,  taken,  and  dispersed,  their 
Ordnance  and  Arms  lost,  and  Col.  Foyer's  Declaration. 
1648." 

One  of  Prince  Charles'  letters  taken  at  Pembroke  was 
published  by  Hugh  Peters,  an  officer  in  Cromwell's  army,  probably 
a  chaplain  at  the  first,  but  having  followed  Cromwell  into  Ireland 
he  had  proved  so  useful  to  him  that  he  had  been  sent  into  Wales 
38 


HISTORICAL,   ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

with  the  commission  of  a  Colonel  to  raise  a  Regiment.1     Peter's 

publication  is  entitled  : 

"  A  Copy  of  His  Highnesse  Prince  Charles  his  Letter  to  the 
Commanders  of  his  Majesty's  Forces  with  a  Copy  of  his 
Highnesse  Commission  to  Collonell  Poyer,  written  by  Mr. 
Hugh  Peters,  Minister  of  God's  Word.     1648." 
Charles   had   by   this   time   appointed    Poyer   governor    of 

Pembroke ;  and  Colonel  Rice  Powel,  governor  of  Tenby  and  its 

castle,  where  the  latter  was  afterwards  captured. 

The  decisive  victory  gained  by  the  Cromwellians  took  place 

at  St.  Ffagan's,  near  Cardiff,  as  already  stated.     The  record  of  it 

appears  in  a  paper  styled  : 

"Colonel  Poyer's  Forces  in  Wales  totally  routed  by  the 
Parliament  Forces  under  Colonel  Horton,  who  took  Prisoners, 
Major-General  Stradling,  Col.  Philips,  ....  140  Captains, 
many  Country  Gentlemen,  3000  Common  Soldiers,  4000 
Armes,  &c.,  &c.  1648." 
The  end  of  the  Second  Civil  War  in  Wales  was  marked  by 

"  An  Ordinance  for  the  settling  the  Militia  in  the  several  Counties, 

Cities,  and  Places  in  the  Dominion  of  Wales.      1648." 

It  is  an  interesting  document,  in  that  it  gives  the  names  of 

those  responsible  to  the  Commonwealth  for  good  government  in 

Wales. 

(d)  SATIRES  AND   LAMPOONS. 

Several  compositions  of  this  kind  were  published,  and  a  few 
will  be  mentioned  here,  which  are  typical  of  the  rest.  They  were 
for  the  most  part  the  productions  of  Royalist  wits  at  the  expense  of 
the  Welshman's  pronunciation  of  English  and  his  confusion  of 
the  English  pronouns,  but  they  invariably  elicited  a  speedy  reply 
from  the  Roundheads.  Some  of  them  are  skits  on  the  "pro- 
phecies "  of  the  time. 

"  The  Welchman's  publike  Recantation,  or  his  hearty   sorrow 
for  taking  up  Armes  against  her  Parliament,  Declaring  to  all 
'Walker's  "Sufferings  of  the  Citrgy?  p.  147. 

39 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  world  how  her  hath  been  abused  by  faire  words,  and 
such  adullations  and  flattering,  telling  her  what  booties  and 
Prizes  her  should  get,  the  Divell  take  the  array.  1642." 
This  is  a  knavish  booklet  and  very  droll  in  parts. 
"  The  Welchman's  last  Petition  and  Protestation,  desiring 
that  a  speedy  aide  might  bee  sent  her  against  her  home  -  bred 
Enemies,  as  her  shall  declare  and  show  to  be  in  her  following 
petition ;  whereunto  is  added  the  protestation  of  Thomas  ap 
Shinkin  ap  Morgan.  1642." 

"The  Welchman's  Prave  Resolution,  in  defence  of  Her 
King,  Her  Pritish  Parliament,  and  her  Country,  against  te 
malignant  party,  subscriped  by  Shon  ap  William,  ap  Thomas, 
ap  Meredith,  ap  Evans,  ap  Lloyd,  ap  Price,  ap  Hugh,  ap 
Rowland,  ap  Powell,  ap  Shinkin,  ap  Shones." 
"  The  Welshman's  Warning  Piece  as  it  was  delivered  in  a 
sermon  in  Shropshire  at  the  Assembly  when  the  Resolution 
was  agreed  upon,  and  now  published  for  the  cood  of  all  her 
countrymen  in  these  parts,  by  Shon  ap  Morgan,  in  the  Anti- 
Prelation  Year,  1642.  Wherein  her  gives  Kot  thanks  that 
her  was  no  Beshit.  1642." 

"  The  Welch  Doctor ;  or  the  Welchman  turned  Physitian, 
being  a  new  way  to  cure  all  Diseases  in  these  times,  &c.  By 
Shinkin  ap  Morgan.  1643." 

"The  Welshman's  Declaration  :  declaring  her  resolution  to 
be  revenged  on  her  enemies,  for  te  creat  overthrow  of  a  creat 
many  of  her  Cousins  and  Countreymen  in  Tean  Forrest,  in 
Gloucestershire,  where  her  was  spitefully  frittered.     1643." 
"  A  Perfect  Tiurrnal  or  Welsh  Post,  with  her  creat  packet  of 
Letters.,  for  her  to  carry  into  her  Countrey  of  Whales,  touch- 
ing preten    proceeding,    and    war    in    England.      London, 
printed  for  her  Welch  Post,  to  carry  to  her   countrymen  in 
Whales.     1643." 
This  is  adorned  with  a  portrait  of  Charles  I.  sitting  upon  his 

throne,  and  showing  one  or  two  suppliants  asking  favours. 

"  Crete  Wonders  foretold  By  Her  crete  Prophet  of  Walest 

4° 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

which  shall  certainly  happen  this  present  year  1647,  by 
strange  fires  and  crete  waters,  by  spirits  and  Tivills  appearing 
in  many  places  of  tis  Kingdome,  especially  in  and  about  te 
cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  and  the  effects  that  will 
follow  thereupon.  Also  her  King's  coming  home  to  her 
Crete  Counsell.  Printed  with  her  free  consent  and  leave,  to 
be  published  and  sold  to  her  teere  Pretren  of  England,  with 
all  her  plood  and  heart.  1647." 

This  Roundhead  lampoon  upon  the  Cavaliers  has  a  caricature 
of  Judge  Berkley  (it  is  supposed)  as  frontispiece. 

"Jenkin  of  Wales  his  Love -Course  and  Perambulation;  an 
early  Droll  performed  at  the  Red  Bull  Theatre  about  the 
year  1647." 

A  satire  published  by  Michael  Oldsworth  in  1648,  entitled 
News  from  Pembroke  and  Montgomery,  was  printed  at  Montgomery. 
The  Royalists  probably  had  a  moveable  Press  in  Wales  at  this 
time. 

"The  Earl  of  Pembroke's  Farewell  to  the  King.  1648." 
Although  the  title  suggests  sympathy  or  even  tears,  this  is  an 
oration  full  of  oaths  and  blasphemy.  It  would  seem  that  the 
noble  Earl,  who  was  the  fourth  to  hold  the  title,  was  given  to  this 
particular  form  of  utterance,  for  its  absence  in  one  of  his  speeches 
produced  a  satire  bearing  the  significant  title,  "  The  Speech 
without  an  Oath,  of  Phil.  Earle  of  Pembroke.  1648." 

In  1649  appeared  "A  Thanksgiving  for  the  Recovery  of 
Philip,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  was  jeered  into  a  Pestillent  Fever." 
He  was  Chamberlain  to  Charles  I.  and  Chancellor  of  Oxford. 
He  died  in  1655. 

The  following  are  two  examples  of  the  lampoons  published 
during  the  Commonwealth  period  (1649-1660),  satirising  in  prose 
and  verse  the  numerous  Remonstrances,  Petitions,  Articles  of 
High  Treason,  &c.,  which  were  the  vogue  : 

"The  Humble  Remonstrances   of    Rice  ap   Meredith    ap 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Morgan,  Shentilman  of  Wales,  with  fery  brave  new  Ballads 
or  Songs."  1652. 

"  Articles  of  High  Treason  made  and  enacted  by  the  late 
Half -Quarter  Usurping  Convention,  and  now  presented  to 
Publick  View  for  general  satisfaction,  of  all  true  Englishmen, 
with  a  Petition  or  Remonstrance,  from  the  Shentlemen  of 
Wales,  to  their  cood  Worships,  together  with  Trotters 
Journey -man  on  his  Amble  to  the  Gallows.  Imprinted  for 
Erasmus  Thorogood,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  the  Signe  of  the 
Roasted  Rump.  1659." 

(e)  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD. 

This  period  opens  with  the  famous  "Act  for  the  better  Propaga- 
tion and  Preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Wales.  1650."  Its  inception  is 
thus  explained  by  Walker  in  his  "  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy."  I  One, 
Hugh  Peters,  who  has  been  previously  mentioned,  had  been  sent 
by  Cromwell  into  Wales  (from  Ireland  whither  he  had  accom- 
panied him)  to  raise  a  regiment.  "  He  misspent  his  time,  and 
raised  but  three  companies,  and  Cromwell's  wife  drew  up  Articles 
against  him,  which  Hugh  Peters  being  informed  of,  contrived, 
together  with  one  Colonel  Philip  Jones,  of  Swansey,  and  one  Mr. 
Sampson  Lort,  '  to  settle  a  Congregational  Church  of  their  own 
invention  ' ;  hoping  by  that  means  to  make  it  evident,  that  instead 
of  having  lost  any  time,  he  had  been  all  the  while  very  well 
employed  :  and  afterwards  going  to  London,  and  being  requested 
to  leave  his  advice  '  How  to  drive  on  that  great  design  of 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Wales,'  he  briefly  delivered  it  to  this 
effect :  that  tJiey  must  sequester  all  ministers  without  exception,  and 
bring  the  revenues  of  the  Church  into  one  public  Treasury,  out  of 
which  must  be  allowed  an  Hundred  a  year  to  Six  itinerant 
ministers,  to  preach  in  every  county,  which  was  the  model  they 
afterwards  proceeded  upon,  and  did  in  a  manner  finish  and  com- 
pleat  it." 

It  may  be  argued  that  Walker's  account  is  not  without  bias, 
1  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  147. 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

but  it  should  be  explained  that  he  derived  this  information,  as  he 
himself  says,  from  "The  Life  of  H.  Peters  by  W.  Young,  M.D. 
1663."'  Peters  had  lodged  at  Young's  house  at  Milford,  but 
it  is  not  known  on  what  terms  they  were. 

Whether  this  is  the  correct  account  of  the  inception  of  the 
Act  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  it  proceeded  on  these  lines,  which 
gives  some  point  to  Walker's  remark  that  "  Peters  was  the  great 
Master  -  Builder."  He  had,  however,  nothing  to  do  with  the 
working  of  it.  To  quote  the  same  authority,  "  the  care  of  carrying 
it  on  was  committed  to  Vavasor  Powell,  Walter  Cradock,2  and 
some  other  enthusiasts  of  those  parts ;  who  for  that  end  endea- 
voured to  represent  their  countrymen  as  '  Pagans  and  Infidels,'  3 
and  a  People  that  understood  nothing  of  God,  or  of  the  Power  of 
Godliness,  and  so  had  need  to  be  converted  to  the  Faith." 

The  part  that  Vavasor  Powell,  Walter  Cradoc,  and  Morgan 
Llwyd'  played  at  this  time  is  so  prominent  that  no  better  place 
can  be  found  to  insert  the  story  of  their  life  and  work,  for  no 
account  of  the  Commonwealth  period  in  Wales  is  complete 
without  them,  either  on  its  historical,  religious,  or  literary  side. 

There  are  two  authorities  which  deal  with  Vavasor  Powell's 
life  and  influence,  both  of  which  are  greatly  biassed,  although 
in  opposite  ways,  so  that  probably  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other 
cases,  the  truth  lies  between  them.  One  is  a  work  by  Alexander 
Griffith  entitled  "  Strena  Vavasoriensis,  or,  an  Hue  and  Cry  after 
Mr.  Vavasor  Powell."  This,  from  the  very  honesty  of  its  title 
proclaims  the  author  an  adverse  and  even  antagonistic  critic.  On 
his  own  showing,  he  had  set  forth  to  hunt  him  down.  The  other 
is  a  "Life"  wrongly  attributed  to  Edward  Bagshav,-,*  "his  dear 
friend  and  fellow -sufferer,"  which,  if  true,  would  hardly  give 
an  unbiassed  account  of  the  career  of  the  "  Apostle  of  the 
Welch  Counties  "  or  "  Metropolitan  of  the  Itinerants,"  as  Powell 
is  variously  described. 

1  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  margin  p.  147.  2  Morgan  Llwyd  is  not  men- 
tioned !>y  Walker,  but  he  was  one  of  the  three  "Tryers."  3  This  quotation 
was  taken  by  Walker  from  Merc.  Camb,  Brit.,  p.  I.  4The  title  cage  names 
no  author,  but  states  that  the  "  Elogies  and  Epitaphs"  at  the  end  were  "by 
His  Friends."  It  is  dated  1671. 

43 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Vavasor  Powell  (1617-1670)  was  born  at  Cnwc  Glas, 
in  Radnorshire1  in  1617,  his  mother  being  a  Yorkshire 
woman  who  had  settled  in  Wales.2  He  is  said  to  have  been 
educated  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  c.  1634.  There  is  some 
uncertainty,  however,  on  this  point,  and  Wood  but  grudgingly 
admits  him  into  his  "Athenre,"  because  he  failed  to  find  his 
name  on  any  list  of  Matriculants.  Leaving  Oxford  without  a 
degree,  he  settled  at  Clun  in  Shropshire  as  a  schoolmaster,  and  is 
said  to  have  officiated  as  curate  to  his  uncle,  Erasmus  Howell, 
at  that  place,  but  there  is  no  record  of  his  having  taken  Holy 
Orders.  The  story  of  his  forging  "Letters  of  Orders"  can  be 
dismissed,  for  it  occurs  in  the  "  Hue  and  Cry  "  and  is  told  by  his 
enemies.  Later  on,  he  joined  the  Puritans  and  attached  himself 
to  "  an  unpopular  sect  of  Baptists,"  3  which  exposed  him  to  much 
persecution.  He,  on  his  part,  became  noted  for  his  unbounded 
zeal  against  Episcopacy.  In  1642,  he  removed  to  London  and 
afterwards  to  Dartford  in  Kent,  where  "  his  fervid  preaching  drew 
great  crowds."* 

Returning  to  Wales  in  1646  with  testimonials  from  the 
"  Assembly  of  Divines,"  he  determined  to  overthrow  the  estab- 
lished Church  in  the  Principality.  In  the  "  Act  for  the  Propagat- 
ion of  the  Gospel  in  Wales,"  he  was  named  a  Commissioner  and 
carried  out  his  work  with  characteristic  thoroughness.  He  ejected 
a  great  number  of  clergy,  with  the  inevitable  distress  attendant 
upon  such  a  course. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  exerted  his  power  to  the 
utmost  and  that  he  was  paid  for  his  work  out  of  the  revenues  of 
the  Church.  His  enemies  stated  that  he  derived  enormous  sums 
from  Church  revenues  besides  the  ^100  per  annum  which  formed 

'He  himself  says,  "going  through  the  Town  where  I  was  born,  from 
King  ston  to  Lanvaire  -  waterdine,  I  met,  &c."  p.  9,  "Life  and  Death  of 
Vavasor  Powell.  1671."  2  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  413.  Wood  says  that 
Powell's  mother  was  daughter  of  William  Vavasor  of  Newtown,  in  Mont- 
gomeryshire. Athen:  Oxon  :  ii.  p.  474.  3  Williams'  Em,  Welshmen^ 
pp.  413-  414.  4  ibid, 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

his  stipend.1  In  support  of  this  is  quoted  a  property  which  he 
bought,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he  could  not  have 
acquired  it  out  of  his  own  savings,  for  £100  per  annum  at  that 
time  was  a  considerable  sum.  Wood  makes  the  statement  that 
"he  had  the  disposal  of  ^40,000  per  annum  from  1649  to  1653, 
at  which  time  it  was  unaccounted  for,"  and  that  "he  built  for  him- 
self a  very  fair  and  sumptuous  house  in  Kerry  in  Montgomery,"* 
but  he  does  not  clearly  establish  his  charge. 

In  politics  he  was  a  staunch  Republican,  and  later  a  Fifth- 
Monarchy  man,  as  some  of  his  utterances  prove.  But  it  must  be 
admitted,  in  all  fairness,  that  in  politics  he  was  no  time-server, 
for  he  declaimed  against  Cromwell  when  the  latter  assumed  the 
title  "  Lord  Protector,"  and  was  imprisoned  for  his  temerity. 
Thurloe's  "  State  Papers "  show  how,  from  this  time,  he  was  a 
marked  man  by  Cromwell. 

At  the  Restoration  in  1660,  he  was  imprisoned,  but  was 
discharged  after  nine  weeks'  captivity.  However,  when  he  refused 
to  take  the  oaths  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  he  was  cast  into 
the  Fleet  Prison  for  two  years,  and  afterwards  spent  five  years  in 
Southsea  Castle,  near  Portsmouth.  Upon  his  release  he  resumed 
his  Puritan  activities,  and  was  after  ten  months  committed  to 
Cardiff  gaol.  He  was  removed  thence  to  the  Fleet  Prison,  where 
he  died  in  1670,3  and  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields. 

He  was  the  author  of  several  works,  all  of  which  except 
"  Canwyll  Crist ::  were  written  in  English.*  They  are  given  below, 
together  with  other  works  bearing  on  the  controversies  in  which 
he  was  engaged : 

'It   is  stated  in   the   "Life  and   Death  of  Vavasor   Powell" — "Little 
outward   advantage  acciued  to  him   by  his   ministry  ;  from  the  Churches  in 

\VaIes  he  received  nothing  but  neighbourly  and  brotherly  kindness 

the  Parliament  ordered  him  £100  per  annum,  out  of  a  sine  cura,  whereof  he 
received  about  £60,  for  seven  or  eight  years,  many  considerable  gifts  he 
refused,  and  never  did  he  get  anything  by  the  Act  for  the  propagation  of  the 
gospel  in  Wales,  as  was  slandrously  laid  to  his  charge,  for  which  his  vindica- 
tion in  print  to  this  day  unanswered,  may  stop  the  mouth  of  Envy  itself." 
p.  112.  *A(hcn  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  474-477.  3i67i,  according  to  Bagshaiv's 
Epitaph,  but  this  is  incorrect.  He  died  Oct.  27th,  1670  ;  see  Life  and  Death 
of  Vavasor  r<noe.f.',  p,  191.  «  Wood's  Atken  :  Oxon  ;  ii.,  pp.  474-477. 

45 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Scriptures  Concord  :  or  a  Catechisme  compiled  out  of  the 
words  of  the  Scriptures.  By  Vavasor  Powell.  London, 
1647."  (Second  edition,  1653). 

"  Saving  Faith  Set  forth  in  Three  Dialogues,  or  Conferences. 
Wherein  is  added  Two  Sermons.  One  of  them  preached 
before  the  Parliament,  the  other  before  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
the  City  of  London.  1651." 

The  two  sermons  are  : 

"Christ  Exalted  above  all  Creatures  by  God  His  Father" 
(1649);  "  God  the  Father  glorified,  and  the  worke  of  Mens 
redemption  and  salvation  finished  by  Christ  on  earth. 
Preached  before  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London.  1649.  By 
Vavasor  Powell."  (Second  impression,  1650). 
"  An  useful  Concordance  of  the  Holy  Bible,  with  the  various 
Acceptations  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  Marks  to 
distinguish  Commands,  Promices,  and  Threatnings.  Also 
a  Curious  Collection  of  Similies,  Synonymous  Phrases,  and 
Prophecies,  relating  to  the  call  of  the  Jews,  and  the  glory 
that  shall  be  in  the  latter  days.  Lastly,  the  Titles  and 
Appelations  given  to  Christ  and  the  Church  not  in  any 
Concordance  yet  extant.  Begun  by  the  industrious  Labour 
of  Mr.  Vavasor  Powell,  and  finished  by  Mr.  N.  P.  and  J.  F. 
Recommended  to  the  Studious  Reader  by  the  Reverend 
John  Owen,  D.'D.  The  Supplements  being  placed  in  this 
Impression,  in  their  proper  places.  The  Second  Edition. 
London." 
This  is  not  dated.  Wood  asserts  that  the  first  edition 

appeared  in  1671  and  the  second  in  1673.' 

"  Canwyll  Crist,  gan  Vavasour  Powel.     Llundain." 

This  is  a  translation  from  the  English,  out  of  "  Saving  Faith." 

He  relates  his  disputation  with  John  Goodwin  in  Truth's  Conflict 

with  Error,  1650. 

"  Brief  Narrative  concerning  the  proceedings  of  the  Com- 
missioners in  Wales  against  the  ejected  Clergy.     1653." 
'Wood's  Athen  :  Qxon  :  ii.,  pp.  474-477. 

-rf 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

It  was  written  to  refute  the  rumours  that  Vavasor  Powell  had 
been  cast  into  the  Fleet  Prison  for  misappropriating  a  considerable 
part  of  the  Welsh  tithes. 

"  Examen  &  Purgamen  Vavasoris  :   1653." 

Written  for  the  same  reason  as  above,  by  one  of  Powell's 
friends,  and  especially  to  counteract  the  "  Hue  and  Cry."  Its 
aim  is  to  prove  him  innocent  of  the  accusations  brought  against 
him.1  As  against  the  charges  of  Alexander  Griffith,  it  places  the 
testimony  of  a  number  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  other 
gentlemen. 

In  1653  Powell  was  very  industrious  in  disseminating  pam- 
phlets, written  originally  in  English,  but  afterwards  translated  by 
him,  or  for  him,  into  Welsh.  Amongst  this  series  appears  : 

"  A   Dialogue   between  Christ  and  a  Publican,  and  Christ 

and  a  doubting  Christian "  :  "  Ymddiddan  rhwng  Crist  a'r 

Publican,  a  Christ  a  Christion  ammheus." 

"  The  Sufferers'   Catechisme  "  :   "  Catechism  y  Dioddefwyr." 

"  Sinful    and    sinless    swearing "  :  "  Tyngu    Pechadurus    a 

dibechod." 

"  Sail  y  Grefydd  Gristionogol." 

"  Gair  tros  Dduw,  neu  dystiolaeth  o  blaid  y  gwirionedd,  oddi 

wrth  amryw  eglwysi,  a  llawer  cant  o  grist'nogion  yng  Nghymru 

(a  rhyw   ychydig   oddi   amgylch),   yn   erbyn  drygioni  mewn 

lleoedd  uchel,  gyda  llythyr  byrr  at  yr  Arglwydd  Pendistein 

Cromwel.     1655." 

This  was  also  published  in  English,  but  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  Athena  Oxonienses  amongst  Vavasor  Powell's  works.  Its  aim 
is  to  protest  against  Cromwell's  acceptance  of  the  title  "  Lord 
Protector."  Powell  was  called  to  account  for  it  before  Major 
General  Berry  at  Worcester,  but  he  defended  himself  so  ably 
that  he  escaped  imprisonment. 

"  Bref  Narative  of  V.  Powell.  By  Himself,  1661."  Wood 
dates  this  work  1671,  and  views  it  with  unqualified  scorn.  His 
comment  is  :  "Tis  a  canting  and  enthusiastic  piece."2  Perhaps 

1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  162.        -  At  hen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  474-477. 

47 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Gwilym  Lleyn  has  confused  this  book  with  the  "  Life  of  .Vavasor 
Powell,"  issued  in  1671,  and  Wood's  date  would  thus  be  correct. 
"The  Bird  in  the  Cage,  Chirping  Four  distinct  Notes  to  his 
Consorts  abroad,  i.  Of  Consideration,  Counsel,  and  Consola- 
tion, ii.  Some  Experiences  and  Observations  gathered  in 
Affliction,  and  first  intended  only  for  private  use.  iii.  The 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  in  the  ordinary  measures  of 
singing  Psalms,  iv.  A  true  Christian's  Spiritual  Pilgrimage, 
setting  forth  his  afflicted  and  consolatory  state,  in  another 
Metre.  And  as  a  Preface  hereto,  an  Epistle  to  the  Welsh 
Churches,  and  a  brief  Narrative  of  the  former  Propagation 
and  late  Restriction  of  the  Gospel  (and  the  true  Preachers 
and  Professors  thereof)  in  Wales.  And  a  short  Vindication 
of  the  Author  and  others,  from  the  Calumniation  of  their 
Adversaries  concerning  the  same.  The  Second  Edition 
Corrected  and  Enlarged.  London,  1662."  The  first  edition 
of  this  was  published  in  i66i.1 

"The  Life  and  Death  of  Mr.  Vavasor  Powell,2  that  Faithful 
Minister  and   Confessor    of    Jesus    Christ.      Wherein    his 
Eminent     Conversion,      Laborious,      Successful     Ministry, 
Excellent     Conversation,     Confession     of     Faith,    Worthy 
Sayings,  Choice  Experiences,  Various  Sufferings,  and  other 
Remarkable  Passages,  in  his  Life,    and  at  his  Death,   are 
faithfully  Recorded  for  Publick  benefit.     With  Some  Elogies 
and  Epitaphs,  by  His  Friends.    Printed  in  the  year  MDCLXXI." 
"The   Perfect   Diurnall,    1652."     An  account   by   Vavasor 
Powell  of  the  discussion  he  had  had  with  Dr.  George  Griffith, 
of   Llanymynach,  whose   reply   to  him  was   entitled   "  Animad- 
versions  on   an   Imperfect  Relation    in    the    Perfect    Diurnall, 
1652." 

"  Christ  and  Moses'  Excellency,  or  Sion  and  Sinai's  Glory  : 

1  Civil  War  Tracts^  p.  74.  *  Edward  Bagshaw  is,  sometimes,  credited 
with  having  written  this  book,  but  one  is  inclined  to  agree  with  the  author  of 
the  Athena  that  "no  scholar  of  academical  breeding,  as  Bagshaw  was,  would 
or  could  be  the  author  of  it "  (vol.  ii.,  p.  494).  The  first  part  is  certainly 
an  autobiography,  the  rest  a  compilation  "  by  His  Friends," 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Being  a  Duplex  Treatise,  distinguishing  and  explaining  the 
two  Covenants,  or  the  Gospel  and  Law  ;  And  Directing  to 
the  right  understanding,  applying  and  finding  of  the  Inform- 
ing and  Assuring  Promises,  that  belong  to  the  both 
Covenants.  By  Vavasor  Powell,  Preacher  of  the  Gospel  in 
Wales.  1650."  This  is  a  considerable  work  and  runs  to 
572  pages. 

"  Common  Prayer  Book,  no  Divine  Servic.     1660." x 

Wood  adds  an  interesting  note  concerning  Vavasor  Powell's 
religious  views  :  "  I  have  been  informed  by  M.  LI.,  who  knew  and 
was  acquainted  with  Vav.  Powell,  that  he  was  wont  to  say  that 
there  were  but  two  sorts  of  People  that  had  Religion,  viz.,  the 
gathered  Churches  and  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  would  not 
allow  it  to  the  Church  of  England  men,  or  to  the  Presbyterians."2 

Walter  Cradoc  and  Morgan  Lhvyd  were  so  closely  connected 
with  Vavasor  Powell  in  the  administration  of  the  "  Act  for  the 
better  Propagation  of  the  Gospel "  that  their  life  and  work  had 
best  remain  associated  with  his  in  this  narration. 

Walter  Cradoc 3  was  the  son  of  a  gentleman  of  property, 
and  was  born  at  Trevala  or  Trefela,  in  the  Parish  of  Llangwm- 
ucha,  in  Monmouthshire,  c.  1606.  He  went  to  the  University  of 
Oxford,  and  was  intended  for  the  Church.  He  is  not,  however, 
listed  in  the  Alumni  Oxonienses.  About  the  year  1620,  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Wroth,  rector  of  Llanfaches,  a  parish 
not  far  from  his  home.  He  afterwards  took  Orders  and  held  the 
curacy  of  Peterston- under- Ely,  and  subsequently  that  of  St. 
Mary's,  Cardiff,  where  the  vicar  was  the  Rev.  William  Erbury. 
In  1633,  both  vicar  and  curate  refused  to  read  the  "Book  of 
Sports,"  which  had  been  revived  by  Archbishop  Laud,  and  which 
gave  people  considerable  latitude  on  Sundays,  provided  that  they 
had  attended  one  of  the  Church  Services.  For  this  refusal  they 
were  both  cited  to  appear  at  Lambeth.  The  vicar  was  admonished 
and  the  curate  suspended — rather  a  strange  method  of  apportion- 

1  See  Lift  and  Death  of  Vavasor  Pwuell,  p.   120.         2  Athen  :  Oxon\  ii., 
p.  478.         3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  85  -  86. 

49 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

ing  the  responsibility.     Wroth  had  also  been  cited  to  appear  at 
the  same  time. 

Cradoc  succeeded  in  obtaining  another  curacy  at  Wrexham, 
in  1634,  which  he  held  fora  year.  He  afterwards  stayed  fora 
time  at  Shrewsbury,  where  he  met  Richard  Baxter.  It  should  be 
stated  that  at  Wrexham  he  had  come  into  contact  with  Morgan 
Llwyd,  who  was  working  as  a  minister  there,  Wrexham  at  the  time 
being  a  centre  of  Puritan  influence.  He  now  became  one  of  the 
"  Itinerant  Preachers,"  and  during  his  four  years'  stay  with  the 
family  of  Sir  Robert  Harley,  in  Shropshire,  he  made  preaching 
tours  in  the  adjacent  counties  of  Wales.  At  Wrexham,  owing  to 
his  zeal  for  temperance,  he  had  arrayed  against  him  all  the 
influence  of  the  Wrexham  maltsters.  He  had  already  come  under 
the  influence  of  Vavasor  Powell,  and  had  associated  himself  with 
him  in  his  work.  He  succeeded  Mr.  Wroth  at  Llanfaches  in 
1639.  In  1643  we  find.him  at  Great  All -Hallows,  London.  On 
August  1 6,  1645,  Parliament  made  him  a  grant  of  ^100  a  year  as 
an  "Itinerant;"  and  a  record  exists  of  his  institution  to  the  living 
of  Llangwm,  dated  May  6,  I658.1  He  died  at  his  home.  Trefela, 
in  1659,  and,  according  to  the  Broadmead  Records,  he  was 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  Llangwm -ucha  Church. 

As  before  stated,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  "  Commis- 
sioners" under  the  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Wales,  but  was  not  such  an  extremist  as  some  of  his  coadjutors  in 
carrying  out  that  law.  When  Vavasor  Powell  broke  with 
Cromwell,  Cradoc  refused  to  follow  his  lead,  and  after  the  Act 
was  abrogated  in  1653,  his  immediate  active  connection  with 
Wales  seems  to  have  ceased.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  was  ever 
a  republican  at  heart,  and  in  his  latter  years  he  was  a  decided 
friend  to  monarchical  government.  His  warm  and  hasty  tempera- 
ment had  caused  him  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Puritans,  but  he 
became  alarmed  at  the  lengths  to  which  they  resorted,  and  after- 
wards threw  the  weight  of  his  influence  on  the  Presbyterian  side, 
the  party  which  helped  to  restore  the  monarchy.  The  proof  of 
1  See  Seren  Gvmer,  1901,  p.  318  ;  1902,  p,  47. 

5° 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

his  hold  on  the  imagination  of  his  countrymen  lies  in  the  fact  that 
for  many  years  itinerants  were  dubbed  "  Cradocs."  1 

There  are  some  who  regard  Walter  Cradoc  as  the  father  of 
the  Welsh  Independents. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  a  very  well  informed 
man  and  full  of  enthusiasm.  He  published  several  works  in 
English.  His  collected  works  were  published  by  the  Rev.  T. 
Charles,  of  Bala,  and  the  Rev.  P.  Oliver,  of  Chester,  in  1800. 

In  1646  he  published  a  sermon  which  he  had  preached 
before  the  House  of  Commons,  in  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster, 
on  July  2ist,  1646,  the  day  appointed  for  thanksgiving  for  the 
Surrender  of  Oxford.  It  is  entitled  "  The  Saints'  fulnesse  of  Joy 
in  their  fellowship  with  God  ...  by  the  least  of  saints  and  the 
meanest  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel.  W.  Cradock." 

He  was  instrumental  with  Vavasor  Powell  and  others  in 
securing  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  1647,  and,  possibly, 
the  edition  of  the  Bible  in  1654. 

His  other  works  are  : 

"  Glad  Tydings  from  Heaven  ;  To  The  Worst  of  Sinners  on 
Earth.  By  Walter  Cradock  Late  Preacher  at  Hallows  Great 
in  London;  Luke  2,  10.  1648." 

This  book  has  another  title  —  "  Gospel  -  libertie,  in  the 
Extensions  [and]  Limitations  of  it." 

"  Divine  Drops  Distilled  from  the  Fountain  of  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. 1650." 

"Gospel  Holiness  :  Or,  The  saving  Sight  of  God.  Laid 
open  from  Isa.  6.  5."  1651. 

"  Mount  Sion,  Or,  The  Privilege  and  Practice  of  the  Saints. 
1649." 

Cradoc   had   joined   with   Stephen   Hughes   and    others  in 

presenting  Cromwell  with  "  The  Humble  Petition  and  Address  " 

in  1655,  to  assure  him  of   their  loyalty,  as  a  protest  against  the 

Pamphlet  on  "  Wickedness  in  High  Places "  issued  by  Morgan 

1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  165. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Lhvyd  under  the  title  "A  Word  for  God"  in  that  year.1  Stephen 
Hughes  described  the  latter  as  "  an  unseemly  paper." 

The  third  of  the  "  Tryers  "  under  the  Act  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Wales,  and  by  far  the  ablest,  was  Morgan 
Llwyd  of  Gwynedd  (1619-1659).  He  was  a  Puritan  divine 
and  was,  perhaps,  the  strongest  man  of  this  period  in  Wales  who 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  desired  even  more 
drastic  changes  than  Cromwell  himself  was  prepared  to  accept. 
A  recent  editor2  of  his  works  has  related  the  story  of  his  life  and 
the  conditions  of  his  age  with  such  admirable  clearness  that  no 
student  of  Welsh  literature  should  fail  to  read  it  and  profit  by  it. 

Morgan  Lhvyd  was  born  at  Cynfal  in  Ardudwy,  a  romantic 
spot  in  the  upper  reaches  of  the  beautiful  parish  of  Maentwrog. 
Cynfal  was  a  gentleman's  patrimony,  and  had  several  small  hold- 
ings in  its  possession.  Two  sons  of  Cynfal  are  mentioned  as 
having  graduated  at  Oxford  by  the  Welsh  bard  Hugh  Machno.3 
This  part  of  Wales  had  already  produced  many  eminent  men  in 
arts,  law,  and  medicine.  A  native  of  Maentwrog,  John  Ellis  of 
Gwylan,  who  was  afterwards  Rector  of  Dolgelley,  had  been  one  of 
the  first  advocates  of  higher  education  in  Wales.  Huw  Lhvyd,  the 
grandfather  of  Morgan  Llwyd,  was  a  bard  of  some  merit.  In  his 
younger  days  he  had  helped  Holland  in  its  struggle  against  Spain, 
and  possibly  he  had  often  related  incidents  in  this  fight  for  freedom 
to  his  able  young  grandson,  and  fired  him  with  similar  ideals. 
Morgan  Llwyd  was  sent  to  school  at  Wrexham,  a  town  credited 
with  Puritan  sympathies,  and  there  met  Walter  Cradoc  and  became 
his  intimate.  When  in  1635  the  latter  left  for  Shropshire,  Morgan 
Llwyd  followed  him  there  and,  it  is  said,  saw  service  in  the  same 
household,  that  of  Sir  Robert  Harley.  Later  he  came  under  the 
influence  of  Erbury,  whom  he  is  supposed  to  have  met  in  Pem- 
brokeshire. When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  he  espoused  the 

1  See  Introduction  to  Gweithiau  Morgan  Llvayd,  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies, 
pp.  Ixxi.  •  Ixxiii.  2ibid 

3  "  A  dau  oedd  feistriaid  mewn  dysg 

O  raddol  art  oreuddys;;." 
Quoted  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies  in  "  Cwcithiatt  Morgan 

5* 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

cause  of  Parliament  in  the  service  of  which  he  visited  Bristol, 
Porchester,  Portsmouth,  and  finally  London.  In  the  capital  he 
formed  the  acquaintance  of  Giles  Culverts,  a  Quaker,  who 
published  Behmen's  works,  and  many  other  Quaker  productions. 
For  his  services  to  the  Commonwealth  Morgan  Llwyd  was 
appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners  under  the  Act  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Wales. 

He  returned  to  Wales  with  much  pleasure,  for  he  had  tired 
of  the  acrimonious  discussions  which  were  the  vogue  amongst 
those  whom  he  met  at  Culverts'.  London  was  a  hive  of  excite- 
ment at  the  time,  and  his  sojourn  there  left  a  deep  impression 
upon  his  mind.  Amongst  other  influences  he  had  felt  was  that 
of  Roger  Williams,  a  Puritan,  who  had  returned  from  America, 
and  who  expressed  such  extreme  views  as  to  be  unpalatable  even 
to  the  Independents  in  Wales.  Williams  returned  to  America  in 
1644,  but  he  had  sown  seeds  which  bore  fruit  in  the  life  of 
Morgan  Llwyd,  who  in  after  years  promulgated  similar  views, 
although  his  opinions  as  to  liberty  of  conscience  are  somewhat 
vaguely  stated,  but  he  was  most  pronounced  in  his  hostility  to  an 
established  religion.  He  described  those  who  profited  from  the 
old  endowments  in  these  drastic  words,  "  yn  bwyta  cig  y  meirwon, 
ac  yn  ymborthi  ar  y  budreddi  annaturiol."  This  is  a  gross  offence 
against  good  taste,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  wrote 
it  in  the  heat  of  controversy.  He  was  the  most  extreme  type 
of  Fifth  Monarchy  man,  that  is  to  say,  one  who  based  his 
belief  on  the  2oth  chapter  of  Revelations,  the  chapter  which 
contains  the  vision  of  the  five  Empires.  The  first  four  were 
explained  to  be  Assyria,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome  ;  and  the  fifth, 
in  the  opinion  of  these  men,  was  to  be  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
established  on  earth.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  of  them 
genuinely  believed  at  that  time  in  the  very  near  approach  of  the 
Fifth  Monarchy,  when  Christ  should  reign  for  a  thousand  years. 
Bearing  this  in  mind  enables  us  to  clear  up  many  passages 
in  Morgan  Llwyd's  work,  which  would  otherwise  be  obscure. 
Thomas  Harrison,  one  of  Cromwell's  great  generals,  was  the 

53 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

recognised  head  of  this  party,  and  he,  with  Morgan  Llwyd  and 
Vavasor  Powell,  it  is  supposed,  recognised  the  "  Act  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Wales,"  as  a  God-given  instrument 
placed  in  their  hands  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  coming  kingdom. 
When  it  was  withdrawn,  they  saw  the  collapse  of  their  hope,  and 
this  explains  their  chagrin  and  their  revolt  against  Cromwell 
when  it  came  about. 

In  the  Short  Parliament,  things  were  so  manipulated  in 
Wales,  that  five  out  of  the  six  representatives  who  sat  in  it  were 
Fifth  Monarchy  men,  but  the  end  of  this  Parliament  saw  the  end 
of  their  hope. 

It  was  about  this  time,  in  1653,  that  "  Llyfr  y  Tri  Aderyn," 
Morgan  Llwyd's  magnum  opus  was  published.  Its  full  title  is  as 
follows  : 

"  Dirgelwch  i  rai  iw  ddeall  ac  i    eraill  i\v  watwar,  sef  Tri 

Aderyn  yn  ymddiddan,  Yr  Eryr,  a'r  Golomen,  a'r  Gigfran. 

Neu  Arwydd  i  annerch  y  Cymru.      Yn  y  flwyddyn   mil   a 

chwe- chant   a   thair   ar   ddec   a  deugain   cyn    dyfod    666. 

Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  James  Flesher,  ac  a  werthir  gan 

Thomas  Brewster  tan  lun  y  tri  Bibl  yn  ymmyl  Powls." 

The  gist  of  this  work  is  the  expression  of  the  author's  view 

that  there  should  be  no  interference  'with  conscience,  and  that 

a  voluntary  system  of  church  government  should  be  established. 

He   labours   to   prove  the   weakness  of  the  established  system 

represented  by  the  Gigfran  (Raven),  and  that  the  Church  fetters 

herself  by  endowments.      The  Colomen  (Dove)  represents  Morgan 

Llwyd's  own  views  regarding  a  religious  community,  and  the  Eryr 

(Eagle)  represents  the  Government.     The  nature  and   substance 

of  his  new  spiritual  creed  are  explained  to  the  Eagle. 

In  practice,  his  theories  were  certainly  never  tried  by  the 
Welsh  reformers  of  his  own  day,  for  if  old  endowments  were  bad 
for  the  Church,  they  were  equally  bad  for  them  when  they  had 
appropriated  her  revenues.  There  is  some  doubt  whether  Morgan 
Llwyd  himself  received  any  of  those  revenues,  and  he  must  be 
given  the  full  benefit  to  which  he  is  entitled  in  the  absence  of 

54 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

proof,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  received  ,-£100  a  year  from 
Parliament,  and  it  is  very  hard  to  distinguish  this  in  principle 
from  that  which  he  condemned.  It  was  national  money  benefit- 
ting  a  man  with  whose  extreme  views  not  a  tithe  of  the  nation  in 
those  days  would  agree. 
His  other  works  are  ; 

"  An  honest  Discourse,  1655."  This  is  also  in  the  form  of 
a  dialogue  "  between  Three  Neighbours  touching  the  Present 
Government  in  these  three  Nations,  viz.,  between  Goodman 
Past,  Goodman  Present,  and  Goodman  Future.  London, 

1655-" 

"  A  translation  of  Behmen's  works." 

"  Yr  Ymroddiad   neu  Bapuryn  a  gyfieuthiwyd  ddwywaith  i 

helpu  y  Cymru  unwaith  allan  o'r  Hunan  a'r  drygioni." 

This  was  translated  in  1654  and  printed  in  1657. 

"Y   Discybl   ai   Athraw   O    newydd.      Cyfieithiwyd    1655, 

Printiwyd  1657." 

"  Cyfarwyddid  i'r  Cymru:  a  ysgrifenwyd  yn    1655.     Print- 

iedig  1657." 

"  Gair  o'r  Gair,  neu  Son  am  Swn.    Y  Lleferydd  Anfarwol." 

This  was  considered  so  excellent  a  work  that  it  was  translated 
into  English,  in  1739,  under  the  title  "A  Discourse  of  the  Word 
of  God." 

"Llythyr  i'r  Cymru  Cariadus."  This  was  written  under 
Harrison's  inspiration,  about  1653. 

"Gwaedd  Ynghymru  yn  Wyneb  pob  Cydwybod  Euog,  1655." 

In  most  of  his  works,  especially  in  Llyfr  y  Tri  Aderyn^ 
Morgan  Llwyd  reveals  himself  as  a  son  of  the  mountains,  and  the 
marks  of  his  early  environment  are  plain  upon  him.  The  wild 
stream  which  has  carved  its  way  through  the  rocks  below  Cynfal, 
where  "  Pwlpud  Huw  Llwyd "  stands  out  in  solitary  grandeur, 
seems  to  present  itself  to  his  mind  when  he  writes  "  A'r  llifeiriant 
yn  ddisymwth  yn  codi  ac  yn  ysgubo'r  cwbl."  He  was  the  only 
one  of  the  Puritans  who  published  books  in  Welsh.  Besides  his 
prose  work  he  also  produced  numerous  poems,  One  of  them, 

55 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Hanes  rhyw  Gymro,"  gives  an  account  of  his  own  doings  during 
the  Civil  War  period.  It  is  plain  in  his  early  poems  that  he  was 
sorry  for  the  discord  which  was  rapidly  growing  between  the 
religious  sects.  Gentleness  and  hope  are  the  dominant  notes  of 
these  first  efforts  of  his  muse,  but  his  latest  songs  are  full  of 
bitterness  and  disappointment.  Huw  Morus'  description  of  them 
as  "poisoned"1  is  not  inapt.  They  were  the  writings  of  one 
whose  hopes  were  crushed — a  mystic  who  was  rudely  awakened 
from  his  dreams. 

One  can  imagine  how  deeply  the  iron  must  have  entered  into 
his  soul  when  he,  who  had  expected  so  much  from  Cromwell's 
regime,  travelled  through  Wales  striving  to  raise  an  insurrection 
against  his  quondam  idol.  Parliament  forgave  him  this  offence,' 
and  made  him  the  grant  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made,  but  in  his  last  days  (and  he  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life, 
for  he  died  at  forty)  he  was  a  melancholy,  dispirited,  broken  man. 
But  of  his  eminence  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  the  ideals  for 
which  he  strove  are  still  living  forces.  It  is  a  proof  of  the  tenacity 
and  depth  of  his  convictions,  that  he  should  have  left  the  quiet 
charm  of  his  romantic  home  in  the  remote  fastnesses  of  Wales 
to  take  a  foremost  part  in  the  strife  of  that  age  of  blood  and  iron. 
A  forceful  summing  up  of  his  character  is  given  by  one  who  knew 
him  well,  in  "A  Winding  Sheet  for  Mr.  Baxter's  Dead.;'  He  was 
a  man  of  great  natural  abilities  and  strong  religious  feelings,  a 
master  of  highly  figurative  language,  and  a  preacher  against 
immorality  and  thoughtlessness. 

Among  his  poems  (which  will  be  fully  dealt  with  later)  one 
entitled  "  Givyddor  Uchod"  gives  expression  to  his  quaint  views 
on  astronomy  in  its  influence  on  the  life  of  man  : 

Mae  yrahob  dyn  naturiol. 
Saith  Waned  fawr  ryfeddol  ; 
Ag  yn  cydweithio  heb  naghau 
Gida'r  planedau  nefol. 

No  less  than  fifty-  two  poems,  songs,  hymns,  and  englynion 
appear  in  the  first  volume  of  his  work  edited  by  the  late  Mr.  T, 
E.  Ellis,  M.P. 

1  "A  gwenwyn  at  leftith  ei  lyfrau,"— Huw  Morns, 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

The  great  majority  of  them  are  in  English,  and  some  of  them 
are  very  sweet  little  odes,  although  cast  in  that  vein  of  seriousness 
which  runs  through  all  Morgan  Llwyd's  work.  Of  his  native 
county  he  writes : 

O  Meirion  dirion  i  dario — ynddi 

Yn  dda  rwi'n  dy  gofio 
Nid  hawddgar  ond  ath  garo 
Fy  annwyl  bresswyl  am  bro. 

But  it  is  rather  as  a  writer  of  excellent  prose  than  as  a  poet,  that 
he  has  done  his  greatest  service  to  his  country.  His  works  are 
master-pieces  in  style  and  diction,  and,  unlike  those  of  Rowland 
Vaughan  and  the  many  other  translators  of  this  period,  their 
substance  is  for  the  most  part  original.  .  His  influence  upon  the 
masses  was  very  great,  because  so  many  of  his  writings  were  in 
Welsh.  They  show  him  in  many  lights,  as  a  theologian,  a 
philosopher,  a  careful  student  of  nature,  and  an  accurate  observer 
of  the  social  and  political  events  of  his  day. 

It  is  necessary  at  this  stage  to  give  some  account  of  others 
who  were  less  prominent  during  the  Commonwealth  period  than 
the  three  who  have  just  passed  under  review,  but  who,  neverthe- 
less, contributed  appreciably  by  their  services  to  Wales  both  in 
political  and  literary  activity. 

William  Erbury1  (1604-1654)  was  born  in  1604, 
educated  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  1621-23,  and  having 
taken  Holy  Orders,  became  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's  Cardiff,  1633, 
where  Walter  Cradoc  was  for  a  time  his  curate.  He  refused  to 
read  the  "  Book  of  Sports  "  in  church,  and  was  cited  to  appear 
at  Lambeth,  where  he  was  severely  admonished  by  the  Bishop  of 
London.  In  1640,  he  openly  preached  against  the  bishops,  and 
became  an  Independent.  He  afterwards  served  as  Chaplain  in 
Essex's  army,  and  to  a  regiment  of  Parliamentarians  at  Oxford  in 
1646,  and  the  charge  is  brought  against  him  of  having  corrupted 
the  soldiers  with  strange  opinions,  which  would  seem  to  have  been 
the  doctrine  of  "  universal  redemption  :)  and  the  denial  of  the 

1  See  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  145-146,  and  Wood's  Athen: 
QXOH  :  ii.  p.  175. 

5? 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  or,  as  Wood  puts  it,  "he 
taught  that  there  was  no  certainty-  to  build  upon  the  Scriptures 
....  as  there  were  so  many  copies  of  them."  He  left  the  army, 
probably  because  his  views  were  unwelcome  to  the  soldiery, 
became  a  Socinian,  "  and  preached  in  his  Conventicle  at  Christ 
Church  within  Newgate."  J  He  was  very  closely  identified  with 
Walter  Cradoc,  Vavasor  Powell,  and  Morgan  Llwyd,  and  is 
included  in  the  four  prominent  men  whom  Mr.  Baxter  is  accused 
in  "  A  Winding  Sheet  for  Mr.  Baxter's  dead  "  of  having  "  Killed 
and  slayn,  sweetly  embalmed,  and  decently  buried,  in  his 
Catholick  Communion,"  the  others  being  the  three  "  Tryers " 
already  named.  He  died  in  1654,  having  left  behind  him  several 
writings,  and  amongst  them  : 

"  The  Sword  Doubled  to  cut  both  the  Righteous  and  the 

Wicked.     1652." 

"  The  Grand  Oppressor,  Or,  The  Terror  of  Tithes   ....    A 

Scourge  for  the  Assyrian,  the  Great  Oppressor.     1652." 

"  The  Bishop  of  London ;  or,  an  Espiscopal  Spirit  risen,  and 

appearing  at  London  House.     1652." 

"  The  Welsh  Curate :  Or,  Paul's  care  of  All  the  Churches. 

1652." 

"  Apocrypha.     The  second  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Church  of 

Laodicea.     1652." 

"  The  General  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.     1652." 

"  The  Mad  Man's  Plea :  Or,  A  Sober  Defence  of  Captaine 

Chillintons  Church.     1653." 

"  The  Babe  of  Glory,  Breaking  forth  in  the  broken  Flesh  of 

the  Saints,  &c.     1653." 

"The  reign  of  Crist  and  the  Saints.     1654."      From   this 
tract  it  is  evident  that  Erbury  was  a  strong  Fifth  Monarchy  man. 

"The  North  Star:  or  some  Night -Light  shining  in   North 

Wales.     With  some  Darke  Discoveries  of  the  day  of  God 

approaching.     1653." 

"  The  Testimony  of  William  Erbury,  left  upon  Record  for 
1  Alumni  Oxonienses* 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

the  Saints  of  Succeeding  Ages.     Being  a  Collection  of  the 

Writings  of  the  aforesaid  Authour,  for  the  benefit  of  Posterity. 

Whereunto  is  added,  The  Honest  Hereitck,   Being  his  Tryal 

at  Westminster.  1658."  It  contains  twenty-three  Tracts  of 
his  work. 

His  work,  together  with  his  letters,  was  printed  in  17 70  under 
the  title  : 

"  The  Scourge  for  the  Assirian,  the  great  Oppressor,  £c.,"  by 

Thomas  Meredith. 

William  Wroth  (1570-1642),  was  born  at  Abergavenny 
in  1570,  and  belonged  to  a  Pembrokeshire  family.1  He  entered 
Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1586,  and  became  Vicar  of  Llanfaches 
in  1595.  In  1620  his  life  underwent  a  great  change2  owing  to 
the  sudden  death  of  a  friend,  and  whereas,  previously,  he  was 
addicted  to  mirth  and  levity,  he  now  realised  the  seriousness  of 
his  calling,  and  began  to  "  signalize  himself  by  faithfully  preaching 
the  Gospel." 3  Upon  his  refusal  to  read  the  "  Book  of  Sports," 
the  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  in  1635,  cited  him  to  appear  before  the 
High  Commisson  Court,  and  referred  to  him  as  "  a  noted 
schismatic."  In  1638  he  submitted  to  that  Court,*  but  the 
following  year  he  broke  away  from  the  Church,  and  established 
at  Llanfaches  "  a  church  according  to  the  model  of  the  Indepen- 
dents."5 He  died  just  before  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  in  1642. 
He  left  behind  him  no  literary  work. 

Christopher  Love  (1618-1651)  was  born  at  Cardiff  in 
1618,  and  entered  New  Inn  Hall,  Oxford,6  in  1635,  where  he 
graduated  M.A.  He  was  ordained,  and  was  amongst  those  who 
refused  to  subscribe  to  the  canons  enjoined  by  Laud.  This 
resulted  in  his  expulsion  from  the  Church,  and  the  loss  of  his 
degree.  He  removed  to  London,  and  became  a  very  violent 
opponent  of  the  Monarchy,  and  when  the  Civil  War  broke  outs 
he  was  appointed  preacher  to  the  garrison  at  Windsor  Castle.  In 

i  Rees'  Hist,  of  Noncen  :  in  \Vafes,  p.  499.  2  Brook's  Hist,  of  the 
Puritans,  ii.  pp.  468-470.  3ibid.  4  Wharton's  Troubles  of  Land,  i.  pp.  537, 
544,  555.  =Calamy's  Continuation  i.  p.  47.  6  Alumni  Oxonicnses. 

59 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

1644,  when  the  King  met  at  Uxbridge  to  confer  with  the 
Parliament,  Love  preached  before  them  a  discourse  of  so  violent 
a  nature  that  the  King's  party  protested  to  Parliament.  He  was 
afterwards  minister  of  St.  Ann's  Church,  near  Aldersgate,  but 
about  this  time  his  views  underwent  a  change,  and  in  1649  he 
signed  a  declaration  against  putting  the  King  to  death.1  He 
became  further  estranged  from  the  Commonwealth,  and  took 
part,  later  on,  in  the  Presbyterian  plot  to  place  Charles  II.  upon 
the  throne.  This  was  detected,  and  he  was  tried  for  high  treason 
and  beheaded  in  1651.  He  had  taken  a  very  active  part  in  the 
political  and  controversial  subjects  of  his  day,  and  produced  a 
considerable  number  of  pamphlets  and  sermons,  amongst  which 
may  be  mentioned  : 

"The  Debauched  Cavalier  or  the  English  Midianite,   1642." 
"  England's    Distemper ;    a  sermon  preached   at  Uxbridge, 
1644,  on  Jeremiah  xxxiii.  6." 
"The  Penitent  Pardoned." 

"  A  Cleare  and  necessary  Vindication  of  the  Principles  and 

Practices  of  me  Christopher  Love,  Since  my  Tryall  before, 

and  Condemnation  by,  the  High  Court  of  Justice.     1651." 

"  Mr.  Love's  Case  :  Wherein  is  Published,  First,  His  several 

Petitions  to  the  Parliament.     Secondly,  A  full  Narrative  of 

the  late  Dangerous  Design  against  the  State,  written  with 

Mr.  Love's  own  hand  ....     Thirdly,   Mr.  Love's  Speech 

and  Prayer  on  the  Scaffold  on  Towerhill,  August  22,  1651." 

A  book  bearing  upon  his  trial  and  sentence  appeared  in  1651 

under  the  title  "  A  Just  Balance,  or  some  considerable  Queries 

about  Mr.  Love's  Case,  Tryall,  and  Sentence,  and  about  those 

that  appeared  Petition -wise  in  his  behalf." 

Robert  Wild,  the  author  of  Iter  Borcale,  published  in  1660 
"The  Tragedy  of  Christopher  Love  at  Tower- Hill." 

We  have  so  far  taken  a  survey  of  the  chief  writers  amongst 
the  political  Puritans  during  the  Commonwealth  period,  and  now 
pass  to  a  consideration  of  the  works  of  those  who  were  in  sharp 

'Williams'  Eminent  Welshman,  p.  273.  Also  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  p.  136. 
60 


HISTORICAL,   ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

antagonism  to  them,  those  Church  and  Royalist  writers  who  still 
represented  a  considerable  body  of  opinion  in  Wales.  There  are 
two  who  are  more  especially  worthy  of  notice  : 

Alexander  Griffith  was  a  Welsh  divine  of  the  period,  who 
suffered  much  for  his  loyalty  to  the  Crown.  He  had  been 
educated  at  Hart  Hall,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1618, 
and  M.A.  in  1631.'  Having  taken  Holy  Orders,  he  gained 
perferment  in  South  Wales  in  1639,  but  was  deprived  of  his 
benefices  under  the  "  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel." 
He  regained  his  spiritualities  at  the  Restoration,  and  was 
appointed  Vicar  of  Glasbury2  which  benefice  he  held  from  1661 
to  1690,  the  year  of  his  death.  He  had  a  biting  satire  which  he 
used  with  much  effect  against  the  "  Act,"  its  authors,  and  those 
who  carried  it  into  effect. 

In  1652  appeared  a  pamphlet  for  which  Wood  thinks  he  was 
not  solely  responsible,  but  had  a  hand  in  it,  entitled  : 

"  Mercurius  Cambro  -  Britannicus,  or  News  from  Wales, 
touching  the  miraculous  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  those 
parts." 

It  relates  the  sufferings  of  the  dispossessed  clergy,  and  is  a 
violent  attack  upon  Vavasor  Powell.  It  was  followed  by  : 

"  A  true  and  perfect  relation  of  the  whole  transaction  con- 
cerning the  Petition  of  the  Six  Counties  of  South  Wales,  and 
the  County  of  Monmouth,  formerly  presented  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  for  a  supply  of 
Godly  ministers,  and  an  account  of  Ecclesiastical  Revenues 
therein,  &c.  London,  1654." 

This  is  an  attack  upon  a  petition  entitled  The  Humble 
Acknowledgement,  &{.,  presented  to  the  Commonwealth  Parliament 
in  1650,  by  19,000  inhabitants  of  South  Wales  and  Monmouth- 
shire.3 It  had  complained  about  the  distressed,  oppressed 
condition  of  South  Wales,  both  in  the  matter  of  spiritual  provision 

1  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen^  pp.  180-181,  and  Athen:  Oxon:  ii.  p.  190. 
a  See  Jones'  Breconshirc.  The  Alumni.  Oxonienses  states  that  he  was  perhaps 
Vicar  of  Trefeglwys,  in  Montgomeryshire,  and  afterwards  of  Llanwnog,  in  the 
same  county.  *  Civil  iVar  Tracts^  N.  L.  W.,  p.  52. 

61 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

and  in  regard  to  civil  rights  and  freedom.  It  also  contained 
proposals  for  the  discovery  of  above  ^15,000  "  unaccounted  for 
to  the  Commonwealth,"  and  had  been  followed  up  by  "  A 
Declaration  and  Remonstrance  of  the  Inhabitants  of  South  Wales. 
1650."  Alexander  Griffith  contended  that  the  document  was 
entirely  worthless,  as  it  was  based  upon  political  expediency,  and 
was  a  flagrant  violation  of  facts.  In  his  next  work  he  attacked 
Vavasor  Powell  personally,  in  : 

"Strena  Vavasoriensis,  A  New  Year's  Gift  for  the  Welch 
Itinerants,  Or  a  Hue   and  Cry  after  Mr.    Vavasor  Powell, 
Metropolitan  of  the  Itinerants,  and  one  of  the  Executioners 
of  the  Gospel  by  colour  of  the  late  Act  for  the  Propagation 
thereof  in  Wales  .  .  .  ,  London,  1654." 
This  pamphlet  purports  to  be  a  true  relation  of  the  birth, 
course  of  life,  and  doctrine  of  the  said  Vavasor  Powell,  and  Wood 
in  his  Athena  Oxonienses  has,  apparently,  been  entirely  guided  by  it. 
It  is  unprofitable  to  discuss  the  matter,  until  much  more  is 
known  of  both  Powell  and  Griffith,  if  that  can  ever  be  accom- 
plished.    They  were  two  men  entirely  opposed  in  policy,    and 
that  at  a  time  when  political  and  religious  passions   ran   high. 
The  attack  made  in  the  Strena  is  so  directly  personal  as  to  make 
distasteful  reading  even  at  this  distance  from  the  event.     If  even 
one  of  the  serious  charges  against  Vavasor  Powell  were  true,   it 
would  constitute  him  a  hypocrite  and  felon  whom  all  honest  men 
would  shun.     If  they  are  not  true,  the  charges  recoil  upon  the 
author.     It  is  kindest  to  think  of  both  as  men  who  pushed  things 
to  extremities  in  an  age  when  the  minds  of  public  officials  were 
inflamed  by  political  passion  fanned  into  a  white  heat  by  religious 
bigotry  and  fanaticism. 

An  opponent  who  was  equally  hostile  to  Puritanism  in  prin- 
ciple, but  whose  methods  were  those  of  suasion  rather  than  abuse, 
was  Dr.  George  Griffith  (1601-1666),  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.1 
He  was  born  in  1601,  at  Garreg  Lwyd,  Llanfaethlu,  Anglesey,2  the 
1  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  181,  182.  Also  Athen  :  Oxon  :  \\. 
pp.  387  -  388.  2  Both  Wood  and  Williams  wrongly  state  that  he  was  born  at 
Penrhyn,  near  Bangor. 

62 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

third  son  of  Robert  Griffith  of  that  place,  and  was  educated  at 
Westminster  School  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford  (1619),  taking  the 
following  degrees  :  B.A.,  1623;  M.A.,  1626;  B.D.,  1632;  D.D., 
1634.  After  taking  Orders  he  became  Chaplain  to  Dr.  John 
Owen,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and  later  was  promoted  to  the 
rectory  of  Newtown,  Montgomeryshire,  1631  ;  Canon  and  Arch- 
deacon of  St.  Asaph,  1632;  Rector  of  Llandrinio,  1632;  and  of 
Llanvechain,  1633,  which  he  exchanged  for  Llanymynach,  1634, 
where  he  laboured  for  some  years,  and  was  much  beloved. 
Under  the  Commonwealth  he  lost  his  emoluments  for  a  time,  but 
in  1650  he  was  elected  to  Llanymynach,  and  granted  the 
profits  of  Llangwm  and  Llandrillo.1  At  the  Restoration  he 
was  mitred  by  Charles  II.,  receiving  the  Bishopric  of  St.  Asaph 
in  1660.  He  died  in  1666,  and  was  buried  in  the  Choir  of  St. 
Asaph  Cathedral. 

His  disputations  with  dissenters  were  many,  but  he  was 
as  moderate  in  trying  to  persuade  others,  as  he  was  firm  in  his 
own  convictions.  In  1662  he  assisted  in  drawing  up  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  and  in  making  certain  alterations  in  the  Liturgy  made 
in  that  year.  He  is  said  to  have  composed  the  Office  for 
Baptizing  those  of  Riper  Years.2  His  writings  are  : 

"  A  bold  Challenge  of  an  Itinerant  Preacher,  Modestly 
Answered,  By  a  Local  Minister  [George  Griffith]  to  whom 
the  same  was  sent  and  delivered  :  and  Severall  letters  there- 
upon. 1652."  Vavasor  Powell  is  said  to  have  replied  in 
"  most  false  and  barbarous  Latin."  3 

"Animadversions  on  an  Imperfect  Relation  in  the  Perfect 
Diurnal! .     1653."     This  is  a  record  of  the  public  disputa- 
tion which  took  place  between  him  and  Vavasor  Powell   "near 
New  Chappell,  Montgomeryshire." 

"  Egwyddorion    y    Grefydd    Gristionogol    yn    gynnwysedig 
mewn  Catechism  Byrr.     1664  "     His  share  in  this  work  was 
to  compare  the  Latin  and  English  translations  on  which  it  was 
founded. 

1  Act  for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  issued  by  Cymdeithas  Lien  Cymru. 
'Gwallter  Mechain,  iii.  pp.  2,  3.  3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  181-182. 

63 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Some  plain  Discourses  on  the  Lord's  Supper,"  which  was 
not  printed  until  1684. 

"Gweddi'r  Arglwydd  wedi  ei  hegluro  mewn  amryw  ymad- 
roddion,  neu  Bregethau  Byrrion.  O  waith  y  Gwir  Barchedig 
Dad  George  Griffith,  D.D.  Diweddar  Escob  Llanelwy." 
Printed  at  Oxford  in  1685.  These  Sermons  were  reprinted 
at  Carnarvon  in  1806,  by  the  Bangor  Diocesan  Tract  Society. 

He  also  undertook  a  new  translation  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  into  Welsh,  but  left  it  unfinished.  In  a  Convocation  of 
the  Clergy  held  in  1640,  he  advocated  a  new  edition  of  the  Welsh 
Bible,  but  the  Civil  War  interfered  with  the  project. 


The  Welsh  mining  industries  received  some  notice  at  this 
time,  as  will  be  evident  from  a  paper  entitled  : 

"  A  Just  and  True  Remonstrance  of  His  Majestie's  Mines- 
Royall  in  the  Principality  of  Wales.  Presented  by  Thomas 
Bushell,  Esquire,  Farmer  of  the  said  Mines -Royall  to  his 
Majestie.  London,  1642."' 

Bushell  had  succeeded  Sir  Hugh  Middleton  in  charge  of  the 
Cardiganshire  mines,  and  by  the  permission  of  Charles  I.  he 
established  a  Mint  for  coining  silver  at  Aberystwyth.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he  kept  a  number  of  soldiers  there  at 
his  own  expense  to  defend  it  against  Roundhead  depredations. 
He  is  also  credited  with  having  given  the  King  ;£  10,000  to  help 
him  to  carry  on  the  War,  but  it  is  stated  that  this  money  came 
from  the  mines.2  The  Civil  War  seriously  disturbed  Mr. 
Bushell's  work  in  Cardiganshire,  and  he  afterwards  made  a  virtue 
of  necessity,  and  tried  to  enlist  the  help  of  the  Parliament  in  a 
venture  which  he  described  as  "  A  goode  worke  for  the  benefit  of 
the  nation."  A  paper  appeared  in  1649,  which  stated  his  reasons 
at  some  length.  It  is  entitled  :  "  The  Case  of  Thomas  Bushell, 
of  Enston,  in  the  County  of  Oxon.,  Esquire.,  truly  stated, 
together  with  his  progress  in  Minerals,  and  the  desires  of 
several  merchants  and  others  that  are  willing  and  ready  to  advance 
1  Civil  War  Tracts,  N.  L.  W.,  p.  3,  2  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  129;  see 
also  Afhen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  526  -  528. 

64 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

so  good  a  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation,  humbly  tendered  to 
the  serious  consideration  of  the  Honble.  House  of  Commons, 
and  all  other  persons  in  authority,  whether  civill  or  martiall,  that 
are  desirous  to  advance  the  trade  of  the  nation,  supply  the 
necessities  of  the  poor,  by  discovering  the  hidden  treasures  of 
the  earth,  preserve  the  lives  of  many  poor  creatures  from  untimely 
death  (who  now  are  destroyed  in  their  prime  for  petty  felonies) 
which  might  otherwise  be  made  serviceable  to  the  Commonwealth. 
London,  1649." 

Bushell  had  been  in  the  service  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  and 
had  no  doubt  imbibed  his  master's  Philosophical  Theory  of 
Mineral  Prosecutions  to  the  full.  He  had  carried  out  some 
fantastic  ideas  at  his  own  home  at  Enston,  where  he  entertained 
King  Charles  and  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  in  the  manner  so 
quaintly  set  forth  by  Wood  (Ath:  Oxon:  ii.,  p.  526).  He 
became  greatly  impoverished  by  his  many  ventures,  and  fell  on 
evil  days  during  the  Commonwealth.  Anthony  Wood  summed 
him  up  in  these  words :  "  He  left  behind  him  the  character 
of  one  always  troubled  with  a  beating  and  contriving  brain,  of  an 
aimer  at  great  and  high  things,  while  he  himself  was  always 
indigent,  and  therefore  could  never  accomplish  his  mind  to  his 
original  desire,  of  one  always  borrowing  to  carry  on  his  designs, 
but  seldom  or  never  paid." 

Still  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  belonged  to  that  class 
of  Englishmen  which  has  done  so  much  to  develop  the  mining 
resources  of  the  Principality,  and  to  which  it  is  considerably 
indebted.  Bushell's  ventures,  like  that  of  many  others,  proved 
failures.  Nevertheless,  they  were  pioneers  in  an  enterprise  which 
has  in  many  parts  developed  beyond  their  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions, and  which  has  proved  to  be  "  a  good  work  for  the  benefit 
of  the  nation." 

This  period  saw  the  beginnings  of  newspaper  literature  in 
Wales.  The  Church  and  the  Puritan  party,  Cavalier  and 
Roundhead,  issued  from  time  to  time,  as  the  exigencies  of  a 
travelling  press  allowed,  their  various  Mercurii  and  Diitrnals ; 

65 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

e.g.,  Mercurius  Britannicus,  The  Welch  Mercuric,  Mercurius 
Cambro-Britannicus,  Mercurius  Vafulans,  and  Mercurius 
Publicus.  Some  of  the  issues  known  as  Diurnals  were  published 
at  very  irregular  intervals,  and  were  generally  dated  for  the  week 
of  issue,  e.g.,  "  The  Perfect  Diurnal"  which  reports  the  defeat  of 
Prince  Rupert's  forces  by  Colonel  Jones,  at  Malpas,  is  dated 
1644,  Sept.  2-9.* 

John  Taylor,  a  staunch  Royalist,  sometimes  known  as  the 
Water  Poet,*  a  strange  character,  who  at  the  age  of  72  made  a 
journey  round  Wales,  covering  600  miles,  wrote  an  account  of  his 
perambulations,  in  prose  and  verse,  entitled,  "  A  Short  Relation 
of  a  Long  Journey  made  round  or  oval  by  encompassing  the 
Principality  of  Wales  ....  1652." 

Thomas  Richards,  in  1859,  printed  a  few  copies  of  this  work. 

In  1653,  a  curious  account  of  the  state  of  Anglesey  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  written  under  the  title,  "  A  Brief 
Relation  of  the  Isle  of  Anglesey."  2  The  name  of  the  author  is 
not  given.  Mr.  J.  E.  Adlard  published  a  few  copies  of  it  in  1860. 

In  1655,  John  Webb  edited  and  published  "The  most 
notable  Antiquity  of  Great  Britain,  vulgarly  called  Stone -Henge, 
on  Salisbury  Plain.  Restored  by  Inigo  Jones,  Esquire,  Architect 
to  the  late  King." 

In  the  same  year  appeared  "A  Warning- Peece  for  England. 
Being  a  Discovery  of  a  Jesuiticall  Design  to  Dismember  Wales 
from  England,  to  the  ruine  of  both  ....  Humbly  tendered  to 
the  Consideration  of  his  Highness,  the  Lord  Protector  and  his 

1  Civil  War  Tracts,  N.  L.  W.,  p.  75. 

*"  This  John  Taylor  was  born  in  the  City  of  Gloucester,  went  to  school 
there,  and  having  got  into  his  Accidence,  was  bound  an  apprentice  to  a 
waterman  in  London,  which  tho'  a  laborious  employment,  yet  such  was  his 
prodigious  geny  to  poetry,  that  he  wrote  about  80  books,  of  which  many  were 
in  that  Faculty,  that  made  great  sport  in  their  time,  and  were  most  of  them 
esteemed  worthy  to  be  remitted  into  a  large  folio.  Had  he  had  learning 
bestowed  on  him  according  tr>  his  natural  parts,  which  were  excellent,  he 
might  have  equalled,  if  not  excelled,  many  who  claim  a  great  share  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Muses." — Athena:  Oxonienses,  ii.  p.  393.  See  also  D.N.B. 

3  Llyfr,  y  Cymry,  p.  158. 

66 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Council.     By  a  Well-wisher  to  the  Peace  and  Tranquillity  of  this 
nation.     By  P.  P.  ...  London  .  .  .   1655." 

In  1658,  the  one  document  relating  to  Wales  during  Richard 
Cromwell's  short  Protectorate  was  published  under  the  title, 
"The  very  curious  Act  of  Parliament  issued  during  Richard 
Cromwell's  Protectorate,  for  taking  the  Accompts,  &c.,  concern- 
ing the  Tythes  and  Church  Livings  in  Wales,  and  Co.  of 
Monmouth.  Printed  for  the  Parliament.  1658." 

A  very  interesting  and  amusing  book  entitled  The  Legend  of 
Captain  Jones,  by  Dr.  David  Lloyd,  Dean  of  St.  Asaph,  was 
published  in  1659.  The  first  part  of  it  relates  the  adventures  of 
"  Captain  Jones  "  at  sea,  his  first  landing,  "  and  strong  combat 
with  a  mighty  Bear."  The  second  begins  with  his  miraculous 
deliverance  from  a  wreck  at  sea  "  by  the  support  of  a  Dolphin." 
These  two  parts  are  written  in  very  good  burlesque,  in  imitation 
of  a  Welsh  poem  called  Awdl  Richard  John  Greulon*  The 
Captain  Jones  around  whom  the  legend  clusters,  lived  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  in  great  renown  for  his  high 
exploits.  After  the  title  follow  many  ingenious  verses  in  praise 
of  the  work,  several  of  them  by  Oxford  scholars.2 

The  author,  David  Lloyd,  D.C.L.,  was  born  at  Berth- 
Iwyd  in  the  Parish  of  Llanidloes  in  1598.  He  entered  All  Soul's 
College,  Oxford,  and  became  Probationary  Fellow  in  1615,  and 
Perpetual  Fellow  in  1618.  On  leaving,  he  took  Orders  and 
became  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  and  afterwards  received 
the  following  preferments  :  1641,  Rector  of  Trefdraeth,  Anglesey; 
1642,  Rector  of  Llangynhafal,  Llanfair  Dyffryn  Clwyd,  and 
Warden  of  Ruthin.  He  was  also  appointed  Prebendary  of 
Chester.  Under  the  Commonwealth  he  was  ejected  and  suffered 
confinement,  but  at  the  Restoration  he  was  appointed  Dean  of 
St.  Asaph. 3  He  died  at  Ruthin  in  1663.* 

He  was,  doubtless,  a  man  of  considerable  parts,  and  many 

of  his  Songs,  Sonnets,  and  Elegies  are  found  scattered  in  various 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  pp.  331  -  2.     For  the  Awdl  see  Y  Brython  i.  p.  215, 

*  ibid.     3  Williams'  Eminent   Welshmen^  p»  280.     *Nctio  1656,  as  dialed  in 

the  Llyfr,  y  Cymry^  p,  183, 

6, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

works.  But  his  best  known  book  is  this  "  Legend  of  Captain 
Jones,"  which  has  frequently  been  reprinted,  modelled  as  stated 
above  on  the  Awdl  Richard  John  Greulon,  which  is  attributed 
to  Sion  Tudur. 

Dean  Lloyd  was  much  "  given  to  hospitality,"  and  ran  heavily 
into  debt  during  the  period  of  his  ejection,  from  which,  it  is  said, 
he  never  quite  recovered.  Some  wit  suggested  the  following 
as  a  suitable  epitaph  to  the  worthy  Dean  : 

This  is  the  Epitaph 

Of  the  Dean  of  St.  Asaph, 

Who  by  keeping  a  Table 

Better  than  he  was  able 
Run  into  debt 

Which  is  not  paid  yet.1 

One  of  the  most  active  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  James  Howell,  the  second  son  of  Thomas  Howell,  of 
Abernant,2  in  Carmarthenshire.  Some  of  his  literary  work 
appeared  after  the  Restoration,  but  the  bulk  of  it  had  been  done 
before  1660,  and  the  account  of  his  life  and  writings  had  best  be 
given  here.  He  proceeded  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1610,  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  graduated  B.A.  in  1613,  and  became 
Fellow  of  the  College  in  1623.  He  became  secretary  to  Lord 
Scrope,  Earl  of  Sunderland,  President  of  the  North,  in  1626,  and 
subsequently  M.P.  for  Richmond,  Yorkshire,  1628-9.  Charles  II. 
appointed  him  Historiographer  Royal  in  1660,  and  he  was  the 
first  to  hold  that  office.  He  died  in  1666,  and  was  buried  at 
the  Temple  Church. 3  He  had  travelled  much  on  the  Continent 
and  was  acquainted  with  several  European  languages.  In  1632, 
he  had  gone  to  Denmark,  as  private  secretary  to  the  Earl  of 
Leicester.  On  his  return,  he  gained  a  precarious  livelihood  for 
some  years  by  clerical  work.  In  1640  he  started  his  literary 
career  with  the  publication  of  Dendrologia  :  or,  DodonJs  Grove. 
In  1642,  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Council,  but  his  success 

1  Alk  :  Oxon  ;  ii,  p.  332.  2  Wood  states  that  James  Howell  was  horn 

at  Abernant  (vol.  ii.,  p.  381),  but  Garnett  and  Gosse  in  their  Hist,  of  Eng. 
/.?'/.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  45,  state  that  he  was  probably  born  at  Llangammarch  in  the 
County  of  Brecon,  although  they  admit  that  his  father  lived  later  at  Abernant 
3  Alumni  Oxonienses. 

68 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

was  short-lived,  for  in  1643  his  manuscripts  and  correspondence 
were  confiscated,  and  he  was  thrown  into  the  Fleet  Prison,  where 
he  languished  for  eight  years.  He  was  now  compelled  to  literary 
work,  and  the  period  of  his  incarceration  saw  the  publication  of 
Epistolx  Ho-Eliatuc,  or  Familiar  Letters,  of  which  four  volumes 
were  written  in  1645,  1647,  1650,  and  1655  respectively.  During 
the  Protectorate  he  devoted  himself  to  the  flattery  of  Cromwell, 
but  he  managed  to  secure  the  favour  of  Charles  II.  on  his 
accession,  who  presented  him  to  the  post  above-mentioned  and 
endowed  him  with  a  competence. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  writings  : 

"'A«v3/3oAoyta.     Dodona's   Grove,    or    The   Vocall   Forrest. 

1 640. " 

A  French  edition  of  this  work  appeared  in  1641,  and  a 
second  edition  in  English,  "more  exact  and  perfect  than  the 
former,"  and  with  two  Tracts  added,  entitled,  "  Parables  reflecting 
upon  the  Times,"  and  "  England's  Teares  for  the  present  Warres," 
in  1644 ;  a  third  edition  in  1645,  and  the  last  edition  in  1649. 

In  1650  he  published  "  Aev8po\oyia  ....  Second  Part," 
and  in  1660  "  O^poXo-yta,  The  Parley  of  Beasts  ;  or  Morphandra 
Queen  of  the  Inchanted  Hand." 

In  1647  appeared  "A  New  Volume  of  Letters  Partly 
Philosophicall,  Political!,  Historicall."  It  also  contains  "  The 
Vote,  or  a  Poem  Royall,  presented  to  His  Majestic."  Both  the 
letters  and  the  poem  are  found  in  Epistoloe  Ho-Elianoe.  A 
second  edition  of  the  latter  was  issued  in  1650,  although  it 
contains  some  letters  published  as  early  as  1645.  The  third 
edition  appeared  in  1655  with  a  "Fourth  Volume  of  New  Letters 
Never  Publish'd  before." 

In  1652  he  issued  "  The  Vision  :  Or  a  Dialog  between  the 
Soul  and  the  Bodie.  Fancied  in  a  Morning  Dream." 

In  1654,  "The  Nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Thetis.  A  new 
Italian  Comedy." 

In  1655,  "  Som  Sober  Inspections  made  unto  the  Cariage 
and  Consults  of  the  Late-long  Parlement."  This  was  republished 

69 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

with  some  additions,  and  preceded  by  the  title  "  Philangus "  in 
1658  and  1660. 

In  1658,  he  published  "A  Discours  of  the  Empire,"  and  in 
1 66 1,  as  far  as  is  known,  his  last  work,  entitled  "Divers 
Historicall  Discourses  of  the  late  Popular  Insurrections  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  Tending  all,  to  the  asserting  of  Truth,  in 
vindication  of  their  Majesties.  London,  1661." 


(f)  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE  END  OF 
THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

It  was  quite  natural  that  at  the  Restoration  a  few  works 
should  appear  reflecting  upon  the  Commonwealth  period  in 
disparaging  terms.  As  we  have  seen,  James  Howell  accommo- 
dated himself  in  some  of  his  writings  to  this  change  in  the 
nation's  fortune,  and  thereby  secured  for  himself  the  patronage  of 
Charles  II.  Amongst  other  writings  on  similar  lines,  there 
appeared  in  1660  a  work  entitled  The  Mystery  of  the  Good  Old 
Cause,  which  related  many  stories  of  those  members  of  the  Long 
Parliament  who  took  the  Oath  and  Covenant.  It  shows  that 
although  they  had  professed  self-sacrifice,  they  had  amassed  for 
themselves  considerable  riches.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  satire  upon  the 
Welsh  Puritans  by  a  raconteur  who  viewed  with  glee  the  present 
discomfiture  of  those  religionists. 

In  1 66 1,  there  was  published  a  folio  volume  relating  to  Welsh 
antiquities,  which  caused  much  chagrin  and  disappointment  to 
competent  scholars  at  the  time,  and  especially  to  one  Welshman 
named  Thomas  Ellis,  who  had  himself  been  engaged  for  a  con- 
siderable time  in  collecting  materials  for  a  similar  work,  but  with 
more  accurate  intention.  Its  title  was  : 

"  Cambria  Triumphans,    or   Britain   in   its   Perfect   Lustre. 

Showing  the  Origin  and  Antiquity  of  that  Illustrious  Nation. 

The  succession   of  their  Kings  and  Princes,  from  the  first 

to  King  Charles  of  Happy  Memory.      The  Description  of 

the  Country :  The  History  of  the  Antient  and  Moderne 
70 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Estate,     The  Manner  of  the  Investure  of  the  Princes,  with 

the  Coats  of  Arms  of  the   Nobility.     By  Percy  Enderbie, 

Gent.     1 66 1." 

The  story  of  Thomas  Ellis's  disappointment  is  well  known. 
The  famous  antiquary,  Robert  Vaughan  of  Hengwrt,  had 
intended  to  publish  Dr.  Powell's  "History  of  Cambria,  1584," 
with  corrections  and  additions  which  he  placed  in  the  hands  of 
Thomas  Ellis.  The  latter  sorted  them  and  corrected  them,  and 
was  already  going  on  with  the  printing,  and  had  seen  128  pages 
through  the  Press,  when  Percy  Enderbie's  book  appeared,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  been  compiled  from  materials  in  the  library 
at  Llantarnam  (he  had  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  Edward 
Morgan  of  Llantarnam).  He  had  not  the  knowledge  necessary 
to  such  an  undertaking,  and  spoiled  the  work.  There  is  one 
important  detail,  however,  which  is  not  quite  clear.  The  date  on 
Mr.  Ellis's  projected  work  was  1663,  whilst  Enderbie's  appeared 
in  1661.  The  explanation  may  be  that  Ellis  had  post-dated  his 
book,  allowing  that  the  whole  work  could  not  be  completed  until 
1663.  But  certain  it  is  that  he  had  the  whole  process  stopped, 
and  the  remainder  of  his  sheets  sold  as  waste  paper.  The 
scholars  of  that  day  regretted  his  rash  act  because,  as  the  historian 
of  Oxford  University  writes  :  "  Enderbie  hath  done  this  work 
very  meanly,  being  mostly  a  scribble  from  late  authors,  and  gives 
not  that  satisfaction  which  curious  men  desire  to  know."1 
Enderbie  was  a  Lincolnshire  man,  and  had  but  recently  come 
into  touch  with  Wales  through  his  marriage.  Therefore,  he  could 
not  possibly  have  had  that  knowledge  of  the  country  which 
Thomas  Ellis  possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree.  The  latter  was 
an  able  antiquary  and  classical  scholar.  Born  at  Dolbenmaen  in 
Carnarvonshire,  in  1625,  he  had  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
in  1640,  taking  his  B.A.  in  1644,  M.A.  in  1646-7,  and  B.D.  in 
1 66 1.  During  the  Civil  War  he  bore  arms  for  the  King  within 
the  garrison  of  Oxford.  In  1665-6,  after  leading  a  very  exclusive 
life  at  Oxford,  he  became  Rector  of  Dolgelley  in  succession  to 
;  Oxen :  ii.,  p.  362, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

his  kinsman,  John  Ellis  of  Gvvylan.  Whilst  there,  he  helped  Mr. 
Robert  Vaughan  in  his  task  of  collecting  Welsh  MSS.,  and  his 
solid  learning  and  genius  for  history  and  antiquities  must  have 
proved  of  great  service  to  the  latter.  He  retired  to  his  old  home 
at  Dolbenmaen  and  spent  his  last  days  there,  dying  in  1673.  J 

Another  book  of  historical  interest  which  appeared  in  1661 
was  "  A  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
By  J.  D."  The  author  was  John  Davies,  of  Cydwely  (1625- 
1693),  a  man  who  had  been  trained  at  both  the  Universities,2  and 
who  attained  a  considerable  reputation  as  a  writer  and  trans- 
lator. He  was  a  great  friend  of  the  famous  John  Hall,  of 
Durham,  and  was  considerably  indebted  to  him.  During  the 
Commonwealth  "  he  kept  pace  with  the  times  of  usurpation," 
but  was  nevertheless  admitted  by  the  same  writer  (Wood)  to  be 
"  a  genteel,  harmless,  and  quiet  man."  He  travelled  much  in 
France,  and  was  an  accomplished  French  scholar,  as  his  numerous 
translations  of  French  works  into  English  testify.  He  wrote  many 
books  of  history,  besides  the  above,  and  also  many  novels  and 
books  of  travel.  Wood  mentions  about  forty  of  his  works,  many 
of  which  show  that  he  was  steeped  in  the  Classics  and  the 
Philosophers.  Amongst  the  books  he  translated  from  the  French 
are  :  "  A  Treatise  against  some  of  the  principles  of  Renatus  des 
Cartes,  1654";  "  The  extravagant  Shepherd,  an  Anti- Romance, 
1654";  "The  History  of  Magic,  1656,  1657";  "Les  Provinciales 
or  the  Mystery  of  Jesuitism,  1656";  "Apocalyps,"  or  "A 
Discovery  of  some  notorious  Heretics  ";  "  The  History  of  Algier 
and  the  Slavery  there,  1662  ";  and  "  The  Art  how  to  know  men, 
1665."  He  died  in  1693,  and  was  buried  at  Kidwelly. 

In  1662,  Robert  Vaughan3  (1592-1662),  of  Hengwrt,  the 
famous  antiquary,  published  "  British  Antiquities  Revived ;  or 
friendly  contest  touching  ye  Sovereignity  of  the  three  Princes  of 

1  Alhen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  pp.  517,  518.  "The  Alumni  Oxonienses  records  that 
he  entered  Jesus  Coll.,  Oxford,  in  1641,  and  was  admitted  Sizar  of  St.  John's, 
Cainb.  in  1646.  3  For  the  details  concerning  his  life  and  work  see  Williams' 
Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  511,  512  ;  Gwallter  Mechain's  Workst  ii.  pp. 
426  •  430 ;  Athcti ;  Oxott ;  ii,  372  ',  Alum :  Oxon, 

72 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Wales  in  antient  times,  managed  with  certain  arguments,  where- 
unto  answers  are  applied.  To  which  is  added  the  pedigree  of  the 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Carbery,  Lord  President  of  Wales,  with  a 
short  account  of  the  Five  Royal  Tribes  of  Cambria.  By  the  same 
Author.  Oxford,  1662."  This  was  the  only  book  he  published. 
It  was  as  a  collector  and  classifier  of  MSS.  that  he  chiefly 
benefitted  his  country.  He,  no  doubt,  meant  all  the  useful  works 
in  his  collection  to  be  published,  but  although  much  has  been 
done  in  this  direction,  still  more  remains  to  be  done. 

He  was  the  son  of  Howell  Vaughan,  of  Wengraig,  in 
Merionethshire,  and  was  born  in  1592.  His  mother  was  the 
grand -daughter  of  Baron  Lewis  Owen,  the  judge  who  was 
murdered  by  the  bandits  known  as  Gwylliaid  Cochion  Mawddwy, 
on  his  way  home  from  the  Dolgelley  Assizes,  after  he  had 
condemned  one  of  their  number  to  death.  In  1612,  Robert 
Vaughan  entered  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  but  retired,  without 
taking  a  degree,  to  his  home  at  Hengwrt,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  Welsh  history  and  antiquities.  He  was  in  frequent 
correspondence  with  Archbishop  Usher,  when  the  latter  was 
collecting  materials  for  his  Primordia,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  valuable  Hengwrt  collection  proved  of  great  use  to  the 
learned  prelate.  Some  letters  published  in  the  Cambrian  Register1 
testify  to  the  help  the  one  scholar  gave  to  the  other.  John 
Jones,  of  Gelli  Lyfdy,2  another  antiquarian,  and  a  great  friend  of 
Robert  Vaughan,  also  collected  a  number  of  Welsh  MSS.  There 
is  a  story  that  the  two  gentlemen  made  a  compact  that  whichever 
was  the  survivor  should  receive  the  MSS.  of  the  other.  Vaughan 
survived,  and  added  to  his  collection  a  number  of  MSS.  variously 
estimated  at  from  twenty- eight3  to  fifty.  He  himself  had  collected 
and  translated  137.  He  always  kept  an  amanuensis,  but  did  a 
great  part  of  the  work  himself.  It  was  of  absorbing  interest  to 
him,  and  it  may  account  for  the  fact  that  he  did  not  embroil 

1  Cambrian  Register,  ii.  pp.  473-478.  2  "  John  Jones  was  a  transcriber  of 
inferior  discernment,  hut  an  excellent  penman  "  (Gwallter  Mechain,  ii  p.  471). 
3Yorke's  Royal  Tribes,  p.  127,  states  that  Hengwrt  Library  contained 
165  MSS.,  28  uf  which  were  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Jones, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

himself  in  the  political  squabbles  of  his  day.     He  was  evidently  a 
loyalist  at  heart.1 

His  notes,  copies,  and  additions  are  of  unrivalled  value  and 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  present  and  future  historians  and 
antiquarians.  He  died  in  i666,2  and  was  buried  at  Dolgelley. 

The  most  important  only  of  his  collection  can  be  mentioned 
here  : 

Notes  or  Commentaries  on  the  Book  of  Basingwerk  ;  on 
Nennius  :  The  Triads,  with  an  English  translation  ;  Caradoc's 
Brut ;  Leland's  New  Year's  Gift ;  Burton's  Antoninus ;  Notes 
on  Dr.  Powell's  History  of  Wales  ;  Notes  on  Usher's 
Primordia ;  Annals  of  Wales  from  Vortigern  downwards  ; 
Brut  y  Brenhinoedd ;  Llyfr  Gwyn  Rhydderch  :  The  Laws 
of  Hywel  Dda ;  Llyfr  Du  Caerfyrddin  ;  Llyfr  Taliesin ;  Y 
Cwtta  Cyfarwydd ;  Chaucer's  Works,  in  folio ;  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  &c.,  &c. 

Vaughan  was  more  than  a  gleaner  of  other  men's  works. 
He  left  remarkable  proof  of  his  own  extensive  knowledge  of 
antiquities,  and  has  preserved  for  us  much  store  of  what  would 
possibly  have  passed  into  oblivion,  save  for  his  care  and  indomi- 
table industry.  The  Cymmrodorion  and  the  Welsh  MSS. 
Societies,  the  University  of  Wales,  as  well  as  some  private 
individuals  have  in  recent  years  done  something  to  put  his 
valuable  researches  to  proper  use,  and  the  future  will,  no  doubt, 
add  to  the  debt  which  Wales  owes  to  his  patient  and  persevering 
toil. 

Two  works  of  topographical  interest  appeared  in  1662  ;  the 
first  entitled  The  Memorials  of  Ray*  relates  the  travels  of  Ray 
and  his  friend  Willoughby  in  Gwynedd,  when  they  visited  Denbigh, 
Bangor,  Carnedd  Llewelyn,  Ynys  Seiriol,  Llanddwyn,  Llanberis, 
Beddgelert,  Clynnog,  Bardsey  and  Harlech.  The  journey  was 
really  a  botanical  expedition  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the 
plants  and  herbs  of  the  district.*  The  second  was  "  A  book  of 
1  See  his  second  letter  to  Archbishop  Usher,  May  I,  1652,  Cambrian 
Register ;  ii.,  pp.  473  -478.  'Alumni  Oxon  :  states  1667.  ^John  Ray,  who 
helped  Bishop  Gibson  with  his  edition  of  the  Britannia^  and  was  a  friend  aud 
patron  of  Edward  Llwyd.  4  Llyfr.  y  Cyntry,  p.  190. 


HISTORICAL,   ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

the  Names  of  all  the  Parishes  in  England  and  Wales."  No  author 
is  given. 

In  1663  appeared  "A  description  of  Wales,  by  Sir  John 
Price,  published  by  Thomas  Ellis,  with  Mr.  Robert  Vaaghan  of 
Hengwrt's  Notes."  This  work  is  supposed  to  consist  of  those 
sheets  of  the  "History  of  Cambria,"  which  Thomas  Ellis  had 
already  sent  to  the  Press  when  Enderbie's  book  appeared  and  the 
work  was  stopped.  If  this  is  so,  the  corrections  and  additions 
are  so  numerous  that  there  is  very  little  trace  left  of  the  original 
work.  Sir  John  Price  (mentioned  in  the  title  page)  was  an 
Elizabethan  writer  who  published  Descriptio  Britannia  in  1568,' 
and  must  not  be  confused  with  another  of  this  name,  who  wrote 
in  the  seventeenth  century.2 

In  the  same  year  R.  A.,  supposed  to  be  Robert  Arming 
published  a  play  called  "  The  Valiant  Welshman,  or  the  true 
Chronicle  History  of  the  Life  and  Valiant  Deeds  of  Caradoc  the 
Great  King  of  Cambria,  now  called  Wales,  as  it  hath  been  sundry 
times  acted  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  his  servants." 

The  next  five  years  were  rather  barren  of  anything  of 
interest  in  this  part  of  our  subject,  but  in  1668  appeared  a  book 
of  some  importance,  published  by  David  Lloyd,  and  entitled 
"  Memories  of  the  Lives,  Actions,  Sufferings,  and  Deaths  of  those 
Noble,  Reverend,  and  Excellent  Personages,  that  suffered  by 
death,  sequestration,  decimation,  or  otherwise,  for  the  Protestant 
Religion,  and  the  great  principles  thereof,  Alliance  to  their 
Sovereigne  in  our  late  intestine  Wars,  from  the  year  1637  to  the 
year  1666,  with  the  Life  and  Martyrdom  of  King  Charles  I. 
By  David  Lloyd,  A.M.,  sometime  of  Oriel  College,  in  Oxon. 
London,  1668."  David  Lloyd •»  (1635-1691)  was  a  Welsh 

1  Llyfr.  y  Cymi -y,  p.  23.  -  See  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  417. 
3  Robert  Armin  (?  1570-  ?  1620)  wns  an  actor  and  dramatist  who  had 
associated  much  with  Richard  Tarlton,  a  famous  clown  and  jester.  Armin 
subsequently  showed  some  dramatic  ability  and  was  ensjaeed  as  an  actor  at 
the  Globe  Theatre,  London.  It  is  by  no  means  rerUin  that  he  wrote  this 
book.  The  writer  of  the  article  on  Robert  Anr.in  in  the  D.  N.  Ft.  (vol.  ii.) 
suggests  th:it  "  the  publisher  may  have  wished  the  public  to  infer  that  Robert 
Armin  was  the  author,"  which  tends  to  show  that  they  had  a  high  opinion  of 
his  ability  as  an  actor.  4  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  280,  281  ; 
Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  883-885. 

75 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

clergyman  of  some  fame,  and  published  several  other  works 
which  attracted  notice  at  the  ^time.  He  was  the  son  of  Hugh 
Lloyd,  of  Pantmawr,  Trawsfynydd,  where  he  was  born  in  1635, 
and  educated  at  Ruthin  and  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  where  he 
graduated  B.A.  in  1656,  M.A.,  1659.  He  afterwards  became 
chaplain  to  Dr.  Isaac  Barrow,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  who  made 
him  Canon  of  that  Cathedral  in  1670.  He  held  the  living  of 
Abergele  in  1671,  and  was  preferred  to  Northop  in  1672.  Later 
on,  he  returned  to  his  home  at  Trawsfynydd,  where  he  died  in 
1691. 

His  book  of  "  Memories,  &c.,"  as  well  as  his  "  Statesmen 
and  Favourites,"  which  had  appeared  in  1665,  were  condemned 
by  the  critics  for  their  plagiarism.  But  this  censure  did  not  apply 
to  Lloyd's  previous  works,  five  in  number,  one  of  which, 
"  Worthies  of  the  World  :  or  the  Lives  of  the  most  heroic  Greeks 
and  Romans  compared,  1665,"  became  very  popular,  and  secured 
him  a  great  measure  of  commendation.  Unfortunately,  Lloyd 
was  soured  by  the  critics,  went  into  retirement,  and  gave  up 
writing.  He  had  suffered  imprisonment  in  1663  at  the  hands  of 
the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  for  a  description  given  of  his  Countess 
under  the  title  "  The  Countess  of  Bridgewater's  Ghost."  Lloyd 
had  meant  to  portray  her  virtues,  but  the  title  of  the  book  (the 
lady  was  still  alive)  and  his  method  of  doing  so,  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  the  Earl. 

A  work  of  considerable  antiquarian  interest  appeared  in 
1676,  called  "Britannia  Antiqua  Illustrata,"  by  Aylett  Sammes, 
of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge ;  afterwards  of  the  Inner  Temple. 
He  describes  the  original  trade  of  this  island  with  the  Phoenicians, 
as  well  as  the  names  of  places,  officies,  dignities,  idolatry, 
language  and  customs  of  the  primitive  inhabitants.  He  also  gives 
a  chronological  history  of  Britain  from  the  first  traditional 
beginning  to  the  year  800  A.D.,  and  has  much  to  say  of  the 
antiquities  of  the  Saxons,  as  well  as  the  Phoenicians,  Greeks,  and 
Romans.  The  volume  is  called  the  first  volume,  and  is  illustrated 
with  wood -cuts.  Sammes  also  published  many  other  works. 
76 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Historical  novels  have  been  very  few  in  Welsh  literature,  but 
one  did  appear  in  1678,  entitled  "Tudor,  A  Prince  of  Wales. 
In  Two  Parts.  London.  Printed  by  H.  H.  for  Jonathan  Edwin, 
at  the  Sign  of  the  Three  Roses,  on  Ludgate  Hill,  1678." 

In  1679  the  country  was  disturbed  by  the  Popish  Plot,  and 
echoes  of  it  are  found  in  the  literature  of  the  time,  which 
expresses  the  popular  indignation  against  the  Jesuits.  Several 
publications  appear  relative  to  this  abortive  effort,  as  far  as  it 
touched  Wales.  The  high  feeling  which  prevailed  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  immoderate  language  used  in  these  papers  : 

"  The  Condemnation  of  the  Cheating  Popist  Priest,  or,  A 
brief  account  of  the  Tryal  of  Father  Lewis,  the  pretended 
Bishop  of  Llandaff,  at  the  last  Assizes  of  Monmouth, 
March  28.  Who  lately  cheated  a  poor  woman  of  ,£15,  and 
got  a  Warrant  against  her  for  ^15  more,  on  pretence  of 
praying  for  her  father's  soul  out  of  Purgatory.  With  the 
condemnation  of  another  Popish  Priest  at  Gloucester,"  1679. 
"  A  True  Narrative  of  the  apprehension  of  William  Geldon, 
alias  Bacon,  of  Tregear,  in  Monmouthshire,"  1679. 
"  A  True  Narrative  of  that  Grand  Jesuite  Father  Andrews, 
who  lived  at  Hardwick,  in  Monmouthshire,  how  he  fled  into 
a  large  wood  to  escape  Justice,  how  he  came  to  an  untimely 
End,  and  the  manner  of  his  Burial,"  1679. 
"A  Collection  of  10  different  Broadsides  and  Single  Sheets 
Published,  relating  to  Mr.  Arnold,  the  Monmouthshire 
Justice,  Sir  George  Wakeman,  and  William  Bedlow,  who 
was  so  active  at  the  Monmouth  Trials  of  Jesuits  and 
Malignants,"  1678-1680. 

"  Short  Narrative  of  the  Discovery  of  a  College  of  Jesuits 
at  a  place  called  Combe,  in  the  County  of  Hereford,  which 
was  sent  up  by  Herbert,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  to  Parliament, 
according  to  order,  to  make  diligent  search  and  return  an 
Account  thereof,  to  which  is  added  a  true  Relation  of  the 
Knavery  of  Father  Lewis,  the  pretended  Bishop  of  Llandaff, 
now  a  prisoner  at  Monmouth  Gaol,  Printed  by  T.  N.  1679." 

77 


'WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Letter  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  County  to  his  Friend  in 
London,  occasioned  by  a  Prophesie  that  was  lately  found 
in  the  place  of  retirement  of  Father  Lewis  of  Combe,  in 
Herefordshire."  1679. 

"  The  Information  of  Turbervill,  of  Skerr,  in  the  County  of 
Glamorgan,  Gent,"  1680.  This  contains  much  information 

concerning  the  Welsh  Roman  Catholics,  who  were  disloyal  to  the 

Government   at   the   time,  and  an  account  of  a  plot  in  Wales. 

And  further  light  upon  those  times  is  thrown  by  the  : 

"  Examination  taken  upon  Oath  in  the  Counties  of  Mon- 
mouth  and  Hereford,  Reported  to  Sir  John  Trevor,  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  to  prevent  the  growth  of  Popery,  with  the 
Account  given  to  the  House  of  Commons  by  Jno.  Arnold 
and  John  Scudamore,  of  the  Encouragement  given  to  Popery 
in  the  Counties  of  Monmouth  and  Hereford.  1680." 
In  the  same  year,  three  more  documents  were  published  for 

which  revelations  of  the  Popish  Plot,   real   or  imaginary,  were 

responsible  : 

"  Clamor  Sanguinis,  or  the  Cry  of  Blood,  being  a  short  but 
true  Account  of  a  Barbarous  and  Bloody  Assault  .  .  .    made 
on  the  Body  of  John  Arnold,  Esq.,  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
the  County  of  Monmouth  1680." 
It  seems  that  Arnold  had  been  instrumental  in   bringing  to 

his  execution  a  certain  Captain  Evans  of  Glamorgan,  a  Jesuit 

(sometimes  stated  to  be  a  priest),  and  the  Jesuits  are  said  to  have 

avenged  Evans  by  their  plan  to  murder  Arnold.1 

"  An  account  of  an  Attempt  upon  the  Person  of  Mr.  Arnold, 
one  of  His  Majestie's  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  County 
of  Monmouth  ....   15  Ap.,  1680." 
This  account  varies  from  the  previous  one,  amongst  other 

things  in  the  time  in  which  it  is  stated  the  assault  took  place. 

"England's    Second    Warning  -  Piece,    Observation   on   the 
Barbarous  Attempt  to  Murther  Justice  Arnold  .  .  .  Ap.  15, 
1680,  with  a  copy  of  the  pretended  Speech  of   Evans  the 
Popish  Priest  executed  in  Glamorganshire," 
1  Lfyfr,  y  Cymry>  p.  222. 

7* 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Several,  who  were  said  to  be  disguised  Jesuit  Priests,  were 
put  to  death  at  this  time  at  Cardiff.  Mr.  Arnold  recovered  from 
his  wounds,  which  had  proved  well-nigh  fatal. 


There  is  only  one  work  mentioned  in  the  Cambrian  Biblio- 
graphy, of  the  very  celebrated  and  learned  Dr.  Peter  Heilyn 
(or  Heylyn,  1599- 1662),  and  that  is  : 

"  The  Historical  and  Miscellaneous  Tracts  of  the  Reverend 
and  Learned  Peter  Heylyn,  D.D.     Now  collected  into  one 
Volume,  and  to  which  are  added  an  Account  of  the  Life  of 
the  Author,  &c.,  London,  Printed  by  M.  Clark,  1681." 
Yet  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  writers  of  his  age,  and  he 
is  described  in  "  The  History  of  Oxford  University  "  as  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  century.1      He  was  the  second 
son  of  Henry  Heilyn,  of  Burford,  Oxfordshire,  and  nephew  of 
Rowland  Heilyn,  who  was  the  last   heir  male  of  Pentre  Heilyn, 
in   the   Parish  of  Llandysilio,    Montgomeryshire.3     Educated  at 
Oxford,  he  became  Demy  and  Fellow  of  Magdalen  College.3     He 
took    Orders   in    1623    and   became   chaplain   to   Laud,  whose 
religious   sympathies   he   shared  and  whose  views  he  ably  pro- 
mulgated.    During  the  reign  of  Charles    I.  he  obtained  valuable 
preferment  in  the  benefice  of  Houghton  in  Durham,  which  he 
afterwards  exchanged  for  Ailresford,  in  Hampshire,  and  became 
Rector  of  Hemingford  in  1631.     He  was  Fellow  of  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  1618-30. 

In  1620,  he  published  his  "  Geography,"  but  King  James,  to 
whom  a  copy  was  presented,  took  umbrage  at  a  reference  in  which 
France  was  given  preference  to  England.  This  did  not  prevent  a 
second  edition  being  published  in  1624. 

Perhaps  the  most  noted  incident  in  his  life  was  his  con- 
troversy with  the  distinguished  scholar  Prideaux.  The  two  points 
at  issue  in  this  discussion,  as  stated  by  Wood,  were  :  (i)  An 
Ecclesia  unquam  fuerit  invisibilis?  (2)  An  Ecclesia  possit  errare  ? 
The  wide  difference  between  the  two  Churchmen  was  seen  in  that 

'  Athcn  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  275-285.         *  Manual  of  Wthh  Lit.,   p.   155. 
3  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  275. 

79 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Peter  Heilyn  said  No  !  to  both  of  these  questions,  whilst  Prideaux 
ariswered  both  with  a  direct  affirmative. 

In  1668,  when  "  The  Life  of  Laud "  was  published,  the 
author  showed  that  both  Laud  and  Heilyn  were  equally  enemies 
to  Popery  and  Puritanism,  a  statement  which,  perhaps,  correctly 
defines  the  attitude  of  both  men.  Amongst  the  numerous  works 
produced  by  Heilyn  may  be  mentioned : 

"  Microcosmus  :  A  Description  of  the  Great  World."  1622. 

This  was  afterwards  enlarged  and  printed  in  folio  in  a  work 
which  appeared  in  four  parts,  entitled  "Cosmography  in  four 
Books,"  1652,  1664,  1677,  1682.  The  last  three  parts  were 
printed  after  the  author's  death.  In  his  latter  years  he  could 
neither  see  to  write  nor  read. 

"The  History  of  St.  George  of  Cappadocia,"  1631,  with 
which  was  printed  "  The  Institution  of  the  most  noble  Order 
of  St.  George,  named  the  Garter,"  and  a  "  Catalogue  of  all 
the  Knights  of  the  Garter  from  the  first  Institution  to  this 
present." 

"A  Coal  from  the  Altar,"  1636.  This  was  an  answer  to 
Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  who  had  written  against  "the 
Communion  Table  standing  Altar- ways." 

He  also  wrote  a  "  History  of  the  Episcopacy,"  and  a 
u  Historical  Narration  of  Liturgies"  in  1642;  and  a  "Brief 
Relation  of  the  Death  and  Sufferings  of  the  most  Reverend  and 
Renowned  Prelate  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  a 
copy  of  his  Speech  and  other  passages  on  the  Scaffold,"  1644. 

He  was  deprived  of  his  benefices  during  the  Commonwealth, 
and  suffered  great  poverty,  but  was  reinstated  at  the  Restoration. 
His  highest  preferment  was  the  Sub -deanery  of  Westminster. 
He  died  in  1662. 

He  had  won  for  himself  a  recognised  place  amongst  the 
historians  of  the  i7th  century,  and  was  possessed  of  the  critical 
faculty  to  a  great  degree.  When  Thomas  Fuller  produced  his 
most  celebrated  work,  the  huge  Church  History  of  Britain  in 
80 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

1656,  much  as  it  was  praised,  and  widely  as  it  was  read,  "its 
accuracy  was  impugned  by  Dr.  Peter  Heylin."1 

In  1685,  Edward  Stillingfleet  (1633-1699),  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  published  "  Oiigines  Britannicae"  or  "  The  Antiquities  of 
British  Churches." 

He  wrote  this  work  in  support  of  Bishop  William  Lloyd  of 
St.  Asaph,  who  had  published  in  1684  "An  Historical  Account 
of  Church  Government  as  it  was  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
when  they  received  the  Christian  Religion."  Stillingfleet  had 
become  Bishop  of  Worcester,  in  1689,  and  an  intimate  friendship 
existed  between  him  and  Bishop  Lloyd,  who  was  one  of  the  most 
lovable  men  of  his  age. 

This  is  that  same  Bishop  Lloyd  who  had  public  discussions 
with  the  Quakers  and  Nonconformists.  The  work  he  had  issued 
in  1684  may  be  instanced  as  a  specimen  of  the  arguments  then 
employed  by  him  against  Richard  Davies,  the  Quaker,  and 
James  Owen,  the  Nonconformist,  at  Llanfyllin  and  Oswestry. 
The  discussions  were  conducted  with  perfect  good  temper  and 
moderation  on  both  sides,  which  was  quite  a  pattern  to  that 
controversial  age,  and  although  the  disputants  differed  as  widely 
at  the  end  as  at  the  start  on  the  points  at  issue,  yet  there  was  knit 
between  them  a  warm  friendship  which  lasted  their  life -time. 

Two  papers  relating  to  the  Court  of  the  Marches  were 
published  in  1689,  one  giving  reasons  for  its  abolition,  and  the 
other  showing  the  particular  conveniences  of  that  Court.  Neither 
has  the  name  of  any  author  attached. 

In  1695,  a  writer  signing  himself  R.  B.  produced  "The 
History  of  Britain,"  in  which  some  interesting  information  is  given 
of  the  Principality.  The  portion  relating  to  Wales  divides  itself 
into  three  divisions:  (i)  "A  brief  account  of  the  Ancient  Kings 
and  Princes  of  Brittain  and  Wales  till  the  final  Extinguishing  of 
the  Royal  British  Line."  (2)  "  Remarks  upon  the  Lives  of  all 
the  Princes  of  Wales,  of  the  Royal  Families  of  England,  from 
King  Edward  the  First  to  this  time."  (3)  "  Remarkable  Observa- 
1  Garnett  and  Gosse's  History  of  English  Literature,  iii.,  p.  50. 

8l 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

tions  on  the  most  Memorable  Persons  and  Places  in  Wales,  and 
of  many  considerable  Transactions  and  Passages  that  have 

happened  therein  for  many  hundred  years  past Together 

with  Natural  and  Artificial  Rarities  and  Wonders  in  the  several 
Counties  of  the  Principality,  by  R.  B.  1695." 

Gwilym  Lleyn  thinks  that  R.  B.  stands  for  Robert  Burton,  a 
writer  who  produced  several  small  works  of  a  similar  nature,  of 
which  the  following  are  instanced  :  "  The  History  of  the  House 
of  Orange  ";  "  The  History  of  Oliver  Cromwell  ";  "  The  Historie 
of  the  Kingdom  of  IreJand,"  and  many  others.  This  Robert 
Burton,  if  Gwilym  Lleyn's  contention  is  correct,  is  not  to  be 
confused  with  the  able  author  of  the  "  Anatomy  of  Melancholy," 
who  flourished  in  the  same  century.1 

A  small  book  of  some  interest,  which  appeared  in  1695,  is 
that  entitled  "  Valor  Beneficiorum,  or  a  Valuation  of  all 
Ecclesiastical  Preferments  in  England  and  WTales,  1695."  It 
enables  a  comparison  to  be  made  of  the  value  of  benefices  before 
and  after  the  Restoration.  In  some  cases,  funds  diverted  during 
the  Commonwealth  had  not  been  restored,  and  there  was  con- 
siderable shrinkage. 

Still  another  "  History  of  Wales  "  appeared  before  the  end  of 
the  century,  in  1697.  Its  author  was  the  Rev.  William  Wynne 
(i65o-?i7ii),  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  It  is  a 
re -arrangement  and  improvement  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Powell,  who 
had  mainly  relied  upon  the  Chronicle  of  Caradoc  of  Llancarvan. 
Wynne  considerably  augmented  Powell's  work,  and  his  edition 
was  considered  so  valuable  that  it  was  re-issued  twice  during  the 
eighteenth  century.2  The  author  was  the  son  of  John  Wynne,  of 
Henllan,  in  Denbighshire.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of 
Bangor,  and  laboured  in  that  diocese.  It  is  believed  that  he  died 
before  the  year  1711.3  He  was  buried  at  Bangor. 

The  last  author  whose  work  will  be  noticed  in  this  chapter 
is  the  noted  antiquary,  philologist,  and  natural  scientist, 

iLlyfr.  y   Cymry,   p.  ,257.        2See   Manual   of   Welsh    Lit.,    p.    139. 
3  Alumni  Oxon  :  also  Hearne's  Collections,  vol.  iii.  p.  201. 

82 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Edward  Lhwyd  (1660- 1709).  Although  part  of  his  work  was 
published  iu  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  accomplished,  for  the 
most  part,  in  the  seventeenth,  and  he  lived  forty  years  of  his  short 
life  in  this  century.  He  was  the  son  of  Edward  Lhoyd,  of 
Llanvorda,  near  Oswestry,  by  Bridget  Pryse,  of  Glanfroed,  a 
member  of  the  ancient  Gogerddan  family.  He  was  born  in  the 
parish  of  Lappiton,1  as  testified  in  Llanstephan  M.S.  185,  p.  120. 
This  manuscript  had  been  in  Lhwyd's  possession  for  many  years, 
and  if  it  were  incorrect,  he  would,  no  doubt,  have  altered  the 
statement.  He  probably  received  his  early  education  at  Oswestry 
Grammar  School.  At  the  age  of  twenty -two,  he  entered  Jesus 
College,3  Oxford,  and  was  one  of  its  most  illustrious  sons  at  a 
time  when  its  alumni  were  filling  some  of  the  highest  offices  in 
Church  and  State.2  Whilst  an  undergraduate,  he  obtained  the 
post  of  assistant  at  the  Ashmolean  Museum,  which  had  been 
opened  in  1683,  and  worked  there  under  Dr.  Plot,  whom  he 
succeeded  as  Keeper  in  1690.  This  preferment  gave  him  greater 
freedom,  and  whereas  he  had  previously  confined  his  researches 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Oxford,  he  now  extended  his  sphere  of 
activities,  and  as  a  result  of  his  investigations  in  Wales,  he  was 
able  to  supply  Bishop  Gibson  with  much  valuable  material  for  his 
edition  of  Britannia,  winch  was  published  in  1695.  In  that 
same  year  he  conceived  a  more  ambitious  design,  viz.,  to  prepare 
a  work  which  would  include  a  British  Dictionary,  an  Essay 
entitled  Archaologia  Britannica,  and  a  Natural  History  of  Wales, 
and  he  received  sufficient  support  and  encouragement,  at  the 
time,  to  begin  the  work.  He  issued  an  elaborate  syllabus  in  the 
form  of  Parochial  Queries  devised  to  elicit  the  information  he 
required,  and  circulated  them  with  the  approval  of  John  Wallis, 
Edward  Bernard,  Martin  Lister,  and  John  Ray.  Sixteen  of  them 

'See  Mr.  Richard  Ellis's  able  article  in  Trans,  of  the  Hon.  Sac.  of 
Cymmrodorion,  Session  1906- 07,  published  in  1908.  2  ibid,  p.  3.  See  also 
"  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Henry  Maurice,  D.  D.,  Cambrian  Register,  1799. 
3  Wood  is  wrong  in  his  date,  having  confused  our  author  with  Edward  Lloyd, 
of  Kidwelly, 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

pertained  to  geographical  and  antiquarian  information,  and  thirty- 
one  to  natural  history,  and  they  were  of  a  very  searching 
character.1  In  1696  he  began  his  tour  of  North  Wales,  and 
visited  Co-.vbridge  and  Swansea  in  the  same  year.  He  spent  part 
of  1697  in  Merionethshire,  and  of  1698  in  Flintshire.  In  the 
latter  year  he  visited  Ireland,  thence  proceeding  to  Scotland, 
where  he  mentions  that  the  inhabitants  treated  him  with  great 
kindness  and  civility.  In  1699  he  returned  to  Wales,  and  then 
paid  a  visit  to  Cornwall.  He  landed  at  St.  Malo  in  1700,  hoping 
to  investigate  the  history  and  antiquities  of  Britanny,  but  he  was 
received  there  with  great  suspicion,  and  imprisoned  for  eighteen 
days  as  a  spy.  He  returned  to  Oxford  in  1701,  and  proceeded  to 
arrange  his  materials  for  the  publication  of  his  great  work.  The 
first  part  of  the  Archaologia  Britannica  appeared  in  1707,  and 
was  entitled  the  Glossography.  It  really  comprised  a  very  small 
portion  of  his  researches,  and  was  not  received  with  great  satis- 
faction by  some  of  his  patrons.  The  great  scholars  of  the  time, 
however,  acknowledged  its  worth,  and  Lhwyd  was  rewarded  in 
1708  by  being  admitted  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  His 
University,  in  the  following  year,  appointed  him  Superior  Beadle 
of  Divinity,  a  post  which  gave  him  a  competence  which,  small  as 
it  was,  he  had  never  before  enjoyed,  Oxford  had  also  conferred 
upon  him  the  M.A.  degree  on  his  return  from  Britanny  in  1701. 
But,  on  the  whole,  his  labours  had  heen  very  inadequately 
acknowledged.  He  lived  but  a  few  months  to  enjoy  his  new 
dignity.  He  had  contracted  asthma  on  one  of  his  journeys,  and 
having  slept  in  a  damp  room  at  the  Ashmolean,  he  developed 
pleurisy,  from  which  he  died  on  June  30,  1709.  He  was  buried 
in  the  Welsh  aisle  in  St.  Michael's  Church,  Oxford. 

In  his  various  journeys  he  had  collected  a  considerable 
number  of  manuscripts,  and  these,  in  addition  to  his  own  valuable 
work  which  had  not  been]  published,  were  offered  for  sale  at  his 
death.  Many,  if  not  most  of  them,  were  bought  by  Sir  Thomas 
Sebright,2  of  Beechwood,  Hertfordshire.  He  presented  the  Irish 

1  Arch.   Camb.  for  1859,  p.   166,        *  See  article  on  Edward 
in  A  M  B. 
84 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

part  of  them  to  Trinity  College,   Dublin.     In   1807  Sir  Watkin 
Williams  Wynn  bought  the  Lhwyd  collection,  but  much  of  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire  when  in  the  hands  of  the  binders. 
Edward  Lhwyd's  published  works  are  : 

"  Archreologia  Britannica ;  an  account  of  the  Languages, 
Histories,  and  Customes  of  Great  Britain,  from  collections 
and  observations  in  Travels  through  Wales,  Cornwall,  Bas- 
Bretagne,  Ireland  and  Scotland.  Vol.  1.  Glossography, 
1707." 

He  had  designed  to  publish  the  work  in  four  parts,  the  first 
to  contain  "A  comparison  of  the  modern  Welsh  with  other 
European  Languages " ;  the  second,  "  A  comparison  of  the 
Customes  and  Traditions  of  the  Britans  with  those  of  other 
nations  "  ;  the  third,  "  An  Account  of  all  such  monuments  now 
remaining  in  Wales  as  are  presum'd  to  be  British  ;  and  either 
older  or  not  much  later  than  the  Roman  Conquest,  viz.,  their 
camps  and  Buryal  places,  the  monuments  call'd  Cromlecheu  and 
Meineu  gwyr ;  their  Coyns,  Arms,  Amulets,  'cc.,"  the  fourth, 
"  An  Account  of  the  Rome.n  Antiquities  there,  and  some  others 
of  later  date,  dureing  the  Government  of  the  British  Princes ; 
together  with  copies  of  all  the  Inscriptions  of  any  considerable 
Antiquity,  as  yet  remaining  in  that  country." 

In  1699,  he  published  Lithophylacii  Britannia  Ichnograhhia. 
This  is  a  catalogue  of  the  fossils  at  the  Ashmolean  Museum.  It 
ig  interesting  to  note  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  had  contributed 
towards  the  expense  of  printing  it.  It  is  full  of  inaccuracies,  owing 
to  Lhwyd's  absence  from  Oxford  while  it  was  being  printed. 

A  condition  upon  which  he  had  received  his  M.A.  degree 
was  that  he  should  read  "six  solemn  lectures  upon  Natural 
History,  one  every  year."1  These  were  published  at  Leipzig  in 
1733  in  a  work  by  Luick,  entitled  "  De  Stellis  Marinis" 

His  correspondence  with  Henry  Rowland  is  printed  in  Muna 
Antiqua.  pp.  301-18. 

1  See  article  on  Edward  Lhwyd  in  D.  N.  B. 

85 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  great  bulk  of  his  work  was  left  in  MSS.,  which  included 
forty  folio  volumes,  ten  quartos,  and  one  hundred  miscellaneous. 

On  a  visit  to  Cambridge  in  1702  he  discovered  the  Glosses 
and  the  englynion  of  the  Juvencus  MS.1 

His  great  work,  the  Archce.ologia  Britannica,  marks  a  new 
epoch  in  the  history  of  Welsh  philology.  A  profound  knowledge 
of  the  Celtic  languages,  a  critical  spirit  far  in  advance  of  his  time, 
and  a  remarkably  modern  scientific  method  of  treatment,  are 
apparent  in  every  page  of  this  monumental  work.  In  this  branch 
of  knowledge  he  was  the  link  between  Dr.  Gruffydd  Roberts,  of 
Milan,  and  the  recently  departed  and  much  lamented  Sir  John 
Rhys,  Principal  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  By  his  comparative 
method  of  treatment,  he  discovered  Grimm's  Law  more  than  a 
century  before  Grimm  formulated  it.  Lhwyd's  contributions  to 
natural  science  and  archaeology  are  equally  significant  and  import- 
ant. His  published  works  are  very  numerous  and  scattered,  but 
his  services  to  literature  as  a  collector  of  manuscripts  alone  were 
very  great.  Although  his  countrymen  failed  to  appreciate  the 
significance  of  his  work  during  his  time,  and  for  more  than  a 
century  after  his  death,  modern  scholarship  has  fully  re-established 
his  claims  to  be  esteemed  as  the  pioneer  of  modern  philology  in 
Britain.2  Sir  John  Rhys'  opinion  of  him  was  that  "  he  was  in 
many  respects  the  greatest  Celtic  philologist  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  had  Celtic  philology  walked 
in  the  ways  of  Edward  Lhwyd,  and  not  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Pughe 
and  Col.  Valiancy,  it  would  by  this  time  have  reached  a  far  higher 
ground  than  it  has,  and  native  scholars  would  have  left  no  room 
for  the  meteoric  appearance  of  Zeuss  or  of  the  other  Germans 
who  have  succeeded  him  in  the  same  field  of  study. "3 

1  Trans,  of  Cymmrod.  Sac.,   1908,  p.  44. 

2  Dr.  Gruffydd  Roberts  had  led  the  way  to  the   discovery  of  the  laws  of 
sound  changes  in  words  borrowed  from  the  Latin.     The  same  laws  were  per- 
ceived by  Edward  Lhwyd,  who  further  developed  them  ;  but  it  was  Sir  John 
Rhys  who  fully  discovered  them  and  showed  how  gradually  the  changes  took 
place. — J.  C.  M.        3  Address  delivered  at  Oswestry,  June,  1896,  quoted  in 
Bye  -  Cones,  vol.  xiii.  p,  363. 

86 


HISTORICAL,  ANTIQUARIAN,  TOPOGRAPHICAL 

Lhwyd's  personal  character,  as  given  by  Hearne,  was  that  of 
"  a  person  of  singular  modesty,  good  nature,  and  uncommon 
industry  ....  not  at  all  ambitious  of  preferment  or  honour,  and 
what  he  does  is  purely  out  of  love  to  the  good  of  learning  and  his 
country."1 

"  Hwyliaist  or  Llwybreu  halaeth,  gan  hoffi 

Anhyffordd  Wybodaeth 
Allan  on  Dysc,  lie  nid  aeth 
Un  Dyn  i  Derfyn  d'  Arfaeth. 

Meini  nadd  a  Mynyddoedd,  a  Gwalieu 

Ac  olion  Dinasoedd, 
A  Dail  dy  Fyfyrdod  oedd, 
A  Hanesion  lien  Oesoedd. 


Chwiliaist,  ti  gefaist  yn  gyfan  Addysc 

Y  Deiwyddon  allan  ; 
A  Bri  y  Cowri,  ai  Can, 
Ai  Hiroes  gynt,  ai  Harian. 


Garw  yw  huno  Gwr  hynod    heb  orphen 

Ei  berffaith  Fyfyrdod, 
Rhoddem  a  feddem  dy  fod 
O  law  Angeu,  Lew  yngod. 

A  thra  bo  Athro  bywiawl,  na  cherrig, 

Na  Chaerau  Dieithrawl, 
Nag  un  Llyseuyn  llesawl, 
Na  hen  laith,  bydd  faith  dy  Fawl."» 


Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  244.  "  Englynion  in  Carmen  En^yil- 
icum  in  Obitttm  .  .  .  Edwardi  LuiJii,  quoted  in  Cymmrod.  Trans.,  1906-7, 
p.  50. 


CHAPTER    II 

RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL  WRITINGS 

(a)  THE  EDITIONS  OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES. 

(b)  THE  EDITIONS  OF  THE  PSALMS  AND  THE  BOOK 

OF  COMMON  PRAYER. 

(c)  OTHER  WORKS,  RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL. 


ON  its  religious  side,  the  seventeenth  century  produced  a 
considerable  number  of  books  and  pamphlets  which  can 
be  broadly  included  under  the  three  headings  given  above.  It 
was  a  period  of  transition.  The  changes  wrought  by  the  end 
of  the  century  were  of  a  far-reaching  character,  and  they  took 
place  under  conditions  the  reverse  of  normal.  Sometimes 
changes  take  place  quietly  and  almost  imperceptibly.  A  new 
outlook  upon  life  and  a  new  attitute  towards  its  problems  are 
reached  by  a  slow  and  natural  process.  At  other  times  changes 
are  brought  about  suddenly,  under  the  stress  of  some  political 
or  religious  upheaval.  This  was  what  happened  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  And  nowhere  does  the  remark  apply  more 
truly  than  to  the  domain  of  religious  literature  in  Wales.  The 
current  divinity  of  the  early  seventeenth  century,  both  in  England 
and  Wales,  was  on  the  downward  grade.  The  decline  in  lucidity 
and  strength  from  the  standard  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  remark- 
able. This  is,  perhaps,  not  surprising,  for  it  merely  underwent 
the  depression  which  affected  this  branch  of  literature  throughout 
Europe. 

In  the  previous  chapter  it  was  shewn  how  the  Civil  War 
affected  Wales.  The  overthrow  of  the  King  and  the  substitution 
of  the  Commonwealth  brought  into  prominence  such  important 
questions  as  the  toleration  of  religious  dissent,  and  that  of  Church 
discipline  generally.  The  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Wales,  which  was  put  into  operation  in  1650,  threw  men's 
minds  into  a  turmoil.  The  ejection  of  the  clergy  was  a  drastic 
measure  which  made  thoughtful  men  pause,  and  was  only  a  cause 
for  rejoicing  to  an  inconsiderable  minority,  some  of  whom  hoped 
to  benefit  by  the  process.  The  attitude  of  Wales  towards 
Puritanism  in  the  early  part  of  the  century  had  not  been  extreme. 
On  the  accession  of  James  I.,  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference 
in  1604,  Dr.  Rudd,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  had  spoken  in  favour 

91 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

of  treating  the  Puritans  with  "love  and  moderation."'  Many  of 
the  Puritans,  in  fact,  used  to  preach  in  the  Churches  at  Evensong.2 
When  Laud  became  Bishop  of  St.  David's  in  1621,  he  made 
regulations  against  this.  But  the  policy  of  Laud  in  the  Church 
and  of  Charles  I.  in  the  State  was  not  endorsed  by  the  majority 
of  the  Welsh  bishops.  After  Laud's  translation  to  London,  we 
find  that  three  Welsh  bishops,  Dr.  Morgan  Owen,  Bishop  of 
Llandaff ;  Dr.  J.  Owen,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph ;  and  Dr.  W. 
Roberts,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  were  sent  to  the  Tower,  in  1641.3 
The  attitude  of  some  of  the  Welsh  clergy  towards  the  "  Book  of 
Sports  "  has  already  been  noticed.  Bearing  these  things  in  mind, 
one  is  hardly  prepared  for  the  drastic  treatment  meted  out  to  the 
Welsh  Church  by  the  Commonwealth  under  the  "Act  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel."  It  was  really  the  work  of  a  few 
extreme  men,  who  got  the  power  into  their  own  hands,  as  a  reward 
for  their  political  help  to  the  Commonwealth.  The  names  of 
the  Commissioners  appointed  by  Cromwell  are  given  by  Peters* 
as  follows  ;  "  Henry  Walter,  Walter  Cradock,  Richard  Simonds, 
Roger  Charnock,  Jenkin  Lloyd,  Morris  Bidwell,  David  Walter, 
William  Seaborn,  Edmund  Ellis,  Jenkin  Jones,  George  Robinson, 
Richard  Powell,  Robert  Powell,  Thomas  Ewen,  John  Miles, 
Oliver  Thomas,  Dr.  John  Ellis,  Ambrose  Mostyn,  Morgan  Lloyd, 
William  Jones,  Richard  Edwards,  Vavasor  Powell,  Richard  Swain, 
and  Rowland  Nevet."s  Walker  gives  a  list  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  clergy  who  were  deprived  under  the  "  Act,"  and  the  three 
reasons  alleged  for  their  removal  were  (i)  that  they  were  ignorant 
of  religious  principles,  (2)  neglected  to  preach,  and  (3)  were 
immoral.  According  to  Walker  they  were  allowed  one -fifth 
of  their  income.  Their  places  were  filled  by  appointing  six 
"  itinerant  preachers  "  in  each  county,  who  received  an  income 
of  ;£ioo  a  year  each.  In  addition,  thirty -two  ministers  were  sent 

'See  Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  i.  pp.  424  -  427.  2  See  Peter's  Hanes 
Crefyddyng  Nghymru,  p.  509.  3ibid  p.  520.  4ihid  p.  534.  =  Sir  Erasmus 
Philipps  should  also  he  included  in  the  list  of  Commissioners.  He  played  an 
important  part  in  the  affairs  of  Wales  at  this  time.  See  Article  by  Kev.  T. 
Shankland,  M.A.,  in  The  Transactions  of  the  Cyinmrodorion^^o^-o^),  p.  75. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

forth  and  a  number  of  local  preachers  to  make  up  the  rest  of  the 
deficiency.  When  we  are  solemnly  told  by  Neal1  that  this 
number  was  insufficient  to  do  the  work  of  the  dispossessed  clergy, 
it  proves  one  of  two  things,  either  that  the  120  clergy  were  very 
energetic  men,  or  that  the  nnmber  of  ejections  was  under-stated 
by  Walker.  It  can  be  assumed  that  their  substitutes  were  above 
reproach. 

After  the  Commissioners  had  been  at  work  in  Wales  for  two 
years,  one  thousand  petitioners  from  South  Wales  besought 
Parliament  on  behalf  of  the  dispossessed  clergy.  They  spoke  of 
the  pitiful  condition  of  the  country,  and  asked  that  the  men  who 
had  received  all  the  Church  emoluments  should  be  brought  to 
account.  Parliament  appointed  a  Committee  to  ask  the  Com- 
missioners to  report  to  them  within  a  month,  but  the  Long 
Parliament  dissolved  before  anything  was  done.  In  1654, 
Cromwell  called  the  "  Taenwyr  "  to  account.  He  appointed  Sir 
Hugh  Owen  and  eighteen  men  from  the  South,  and  Mathew 
Morgan  and  twelve  men  from  the  North  to  further  an  inquiry. 
Neale  states  that  the  results  of  that  inquiry  were  satisfactory,  and 
the  Commissioners'  accounts  commended.2  At  the  Restoration, 
the  ministers  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  in  Wales  were  not 
turned  out  in  the  cases  where  the  dispossessed  clergy  had  died.3 
This  in  itself  argues  a  spirit  of  toleration  beyond  what  might  have 
been  expected  of  those  times.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
many  of  those  who  were  ejected  had  previously  ejected  the 
rightful  owners.4 

The  above  outline  of  the  forces  at  work  in  Wales  has  been 
given,  not  to  keep  alive  the  antagonism  of  the  past,  but  to  show 
what  it  was  that  led  to  the  awakening  from  the  lethargy  which 
had  oppressed  the  country  in  the  early  years  of  the  century,  as 
far  as  its  literary  history  is  concerned.  Those  early  years  saw 
the  decline  of  letters  both  in  England  and  Wales.  Stagnation  in 
literary  history  means  decline.  To  stand  still  is  to  go  back. 

'Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  ii.  p.  548.  2Vol,  ii.  pp.  455-459- 
'  Peter's  Kaues  Crefydd>  p.  548.  <  ibid,  pp.  560-561. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

When  we  contrast  the  paucity  of  literary  productions  in  the  first 
half  of  the  century  with  the  prolific  output  of  the  second  half,  we 
are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  main  cause  for  the  change 
lies  in  the  political  and  religious  struggles  of  which  the  above 
events  were  the  outward  expression. 

The  question  of  the  toleration  of  religious  nonconformity  led 
to  the  production  of  an  extraordinary  amount  of  writing  in 
England.  There  was  great  "searching  after  antiquities,  the 
collection  of  authorities,  and  the  rectification  of  records."  r  This 
movement  had  its  influence  upon  Wales.  The  Civil  War  had 
thrown  the  two  countries  into  closer  contact  than  had  existed 
previously.  We  have  already  noticed  how  men  like  Morgan 
Llwyd  were  drawn  into  the  vortex.  Such  works  as  William 
Chilling  worth's  "  Religion  of  Protestants"  (1637),  one  of  the 
strongest  prose  works  produced  in  England,  came  under  the 
notice  of  Welsh  religious  thinkers,  and  this  instance  may  be 
multiplied  many  times  over.  Tillotson  and  other  thinkers  of  his 
school  had  also  a  wide  influence  on  Welsh  religious  thought. 
The  divines  of  the  period  became  something  more  than  preachers. 
They  began  to  see  the  necessity  for  lifting  the  ignorance  which 
lay  like  a  pall  over  the  masses,  and  we  presently  see  the  co- 
operation of  an  English  divine  like  Thomas  Gouge  with  a  Welsh 
preacher  and  teacher  of  the  type  of  Stephen  Hughes  in  an 
attempt  to  educate  them.  Such  works  as  Jeremy  Taylor's 
"Holy  Living"  (1650),  and  "Holy  Dying"  (1651),  had  also  a 
far  reaching  influence  in  Wales.  Taylor  himself,  who  had  been 
captured,  at  the  battle  of  Cardigan  in  1645,*  but  was  soon 
released,  withdrew  to  South  Wales  when  the  Royalist  cause 
declined,  and  kept  a  school  there.  In  the  "  retiring  and  agreeable 
solitude"  which  he  enjoyed  at  the  Golden  Grove,  when  he 
accepted  the  hospitality  of  the  Earl  of  Carbery,  he  produced  some 
of  his  best  work,  and  did  much  by  his  efforts  as  a  schoolmaster 
to  enlighten  the  population  in  those  parts.  The  accumulation  of 
such  instances  as  have  been  mentioned  shows  that  matters  were 

1  GarneU  and  Gosse  Hist,  of  Ett£.  /,»/.,  ii.  p.  386.    »  ibid,  iii.  p.  39. 
94- 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

moving  at  last  in  Wales,  and  that  she  was  stirring  the  stagnant 
waters  of  her  political  and  religious  life.  Something  of  the 
restlessness  of  the  times  is  typified  in  the  life  and  work  of  that 
strange  man,  James  Howell,  son  of  Thomas  Howell,  of  Abernant, 
Carmarthenshire,  whose  career,  erratic  as  it  was,  showed  that  the 
spirit  of  enquiry  had  entered  the  minds  of  young  Welshmen,  and 
had  led  them  to  desire  acquaintance  with  a  larger  world  than 
their  own  Welsh  hills  and  valleys.  Having  linguistic  gifts,  he 
became  unusually  skilled  in  the  principal  European  languages, 
and  travelled  much  in  Holland,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Denmark.  He 
began  his  literary  career  in  1640,  by  the  publication  of  Dodona's 
Grove.  Later  on,  from  the  Fleet  Prison,  he  issued  his  famous 
Epistolac  Ho-Elianae,  or  Familiar  Letters,  of  which  four  volumes 
were  issued  between  1645  and  1655.  They  were  read  with 
extreme  avidity,  "  and  marked  the  rise  of  a  new  class  of  literature, 
the  elaborately -composed  essay -letter."  ' 

Charles  II.  was  much  impressed  by  Howell's  learning,  and 
created  the  post  of  Historiograper  Royal  for  him  in  1661,  and 
endowed  it  so  amply  that  he  spent  the  close  of  his  harassed  life 
in  comparative  comfort. 

Henry  Vaughan,  the  Silurist,  is  another  remarkable  instance 
of  the  wider  outlook  enjoyed  by  Welshmen  at  this  time.  Practis- 
ing as  a  physician  in  the  small  town  of  Brecon,  and  wholly  given 
to  piety,  he  attained  quite  a  respectable  place  in  the  world  of 
letters,  and  his  poems  were  widely  read.  They  breathe  a  spirit 
of  true  inward  religion,  which  could  not  fail  to  have  an  uplifting 
influence  on  his  countrymen  and  others.  A  good  example  of 
his  penetration  into  the  reality  of  things  is  furnished  by  his  poem 
"  The  Retreat,"  which  appeared  in  a  collection  made  by  some  of 
his  friends,  published  under  the  title  Thalia  Rediviva  in  1678  : 

Happy  those  early  days,  when  I 
Shined  in  my  an»el- infancy  ! 
Before  I  understood  this  place 
Appointed  for  my  second  race, 
Or  taught  my  soul  to  fancy  ought 
But  a  white,  celestial  thought ; 

1  Garnett  and  Gosse  Hist,  of  Eng,  Lit.,   iii.  p.  48. 


WALES  IN  THE    SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

When  yet  I  had  not  walked  above 

A  mile  or  two,  from  my  first  love, 

And  looking  back — at  that  short  space — 

Could  see  a  glimpse  of  His  bright  face  ; 

When  on  some  gilded  cloud  or  flower 

My  gazing  soul  would  dwell  an  hour, 

And  in  those  weaker  glories  spy 

Some  shadows  of  Eternity  ; 

Before  I  taught  my  tongue  to  wound 

My  conscience  with  a  sinful  sound, 

Or  had  the  black  art  to  dispense, 

A  sev'ral  sin  to  every  sense, 

But  felt  through  all  this  fleshy  dress 

Bright  shoots  of  everlastingness. 

It  is  no  small  tribute  to  Welshmen,  that  they  should  have 
shown  the  way  to  a  new  class  of  prose  literature,  very  much  akin 
to  modern  journalism,  as  James  Howell  did,  and  have  attained  the 
standard  of  poetic  excellence  to  which  the  lines  just  quoted  from 
Henry  Vaughan  testify. 

When  two  such  events  as  the  establishment  of  a  Common- 
wealth and  the  restoration  of  monarchy  happened  in  the  same 
century,  it  could  not  be  otherwise  than  that  public  interest  was 
concentrated  on  political  questions.  But  collateral  with  the 
political  questions  of  that  day  was  the  deeper  problem  of  religion, 
and  it  is  not  unnatural  that  the  Welsh  mind  should  have  addressed 
itself  to  this  more  than  to  the  other.  The  temperament  of  the 
Welsh  nation  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  preference,  and  even 
a  cursory  glance  at  the  productions  of  the  seventeenth  century 
shows  how  considerations  for  religion  outweighed  everything  else. 
We  will  first  consider  : 

(a)  THE  EDITIONS  OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES 

A  nation  seeking  to  put  its  religious  life  in  order,  instinctively 
turned  to  a  consideration  of  those  Scriptures  upon  which  all 
Christian  belief  is  founded.  The  great  work  of  giving  Wales 
the  Scriptures  in  its  own  tongue  had  been  started  by  William 
Salesbury,  Bishop  Morgan,  and  his  co-adjutors  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  whereas  it  had  then  been  undertaken 
96 


by  men  of  one  school  of  religious  thought,  it  now  claimed  the 
devotion  and  zeal  of  many  who  no  longer  accepted  the  doctrine 
and  government  of  the  Established  Church,  and  in  many 
particulars  were  openly  at  variance  with  her.  Nevertheless,  they 
were  in  perfect  agreement  that  the  fundamentals  of  the  Christian 
Faith  are  based  upon  Holy  Scripture. 

The  year  1620  stands  out  in  the  history  of  religious  literature 
in  this  century  in  Wales,  as  1 6 1 1  does  in  that  of  England.  For 
that  year  saw  the  publication  of  Bishop  Parry's  revised  version  of 
Bishop  Morgan's  1588  Bible.  Its  title  ran: 

"Y  Bibl  Cyssegr-lan,  sef  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 
2  Tim.  3.  1 6.  Yr  holl  Scrythur  sydd  wedi  ei  rhoddi  gan 
ysprydoliaeth  Dduw,  ac  sydd  fuddiol  i  athrawiaethu,  i 
argyhoeddi,  i  geryddu,  i  hyfforddi  mewn  cyfiawnder :  1 7  Fel 
y  byddo  dyn  Duw  yn  berffaith,  wedi  ei  berffeithio  i  bob 
gweithred  da. 

Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Bonham  Norton  a  lohn  Bill, 
Printwyr  i  Ardderchoccaf  fawrhydi  y  Brenhin.     1620." 
With  some  few  alterations,  this  work  remains  the  Authorized 
Version  of  the  Welsh  Bible  to-day.     It  is  so  important  that  it 
needs  as  much  detailed  attention  as   the  scope  of  the  present 
volume  admits. 

It  should  be  stated  at  the  outset,  that  Bishop  Morgan  had 
accepted  in  the  main  the  New  Testament  as  translated  by 
William  Salesbury  and  Dr.  Davies,  his  part  being  that  of  a 
reviser  only.  But  between  1588  and  1604,  Bishop  Morgan  again 
revised  the  New  Testament,  for  what  reasons  it  is  not  stated,  and 
it  was  ready  for  the  press  at  the  time  of  his  death  J  in  1 604,  but 
the  matter  proceeded  no  further.  We  can  conjecture,  however 
that  Bishop  Parry,  who  was  Morgan's  successor  in  the  See  of  St 
Asaph,  knew  of  this  revision,  and  probably  knew  also  that  it  had 
been  Bishop  Morgan's  desire  to  revise  the  whole  Bible.  Assum- 
ing that  Bishop  Parry  knew  this,  and  sympathised  with  it,  he  had 
a  further  incentive  to  the  work  in  the  knowledge  that  in  that  very 
1  Ames  Typogr :  Antiq  :  p.  435. 

97 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

year,  1604,  a  body  of  Divines  in  England  had  been  appointed  to 
revise  the  English  Scriptures,1  and  to  publish  their  work  when 
completed,  having  the  sanction  of  the  Royal  authority  and  that  of 
Parliament  for  the  project. 

A  further  reason  that  influenced  Bishop  Parry  in  his  decision 
to  revise  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures  was  the  demand  for  Bibles 
on  the  part  of  the  churches.  The  number  issued  by  Bishop 
Morgan  had  been  very  limited — barely  sufficient  for  the  needs  of 
the  parish  churches  and  chapelries  throughout  Wales.  Over 
thirty  years'  wear  andt  ear  would  leave  the  majority  of  these  in  a 
dilapidated  condition. 

It  would  be  easy  to  add  other  cumulative  reasons,  the 
strongest  of  which  was,  perhaps,  that  the  Cymry,  having  heard 
the  Word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  would  be  intolerant  of  its  loss,  and  would  never  brook 
the  return  to  a  tongue  "  not  understanded  of  the  people,"  whether 
it  was  Latin  or  English. 

So  the  Bishop,  with  able  assistance,  began  his  revision.  The 
alterations  made  were  considerable,  and  it  remains,  with  some 
corrections,  the  standard  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  has 
done  more  to  preserve  and  foster  the  Welsh  language  than  any 
other  book,  although  the  Welsh  Book  of  Common  Prayer  shares 
with  it  this  pride  of  place. 

It  was  printed  in  London,  as  the  title-page  shows,  by  Norton 
and  Bill,  printers  to  His  Majesty,  in  1620;  and  a  copy  was 
presented  to  the  King,  which  is  now  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum.2  It  is  a  folio  edition  printed  in  black  letter,  and  its 
divisions  are  similar  to  those  of  the  1588  Bible.  The  contents  of 
each  chapter  are  given  above  it,  and  references  appear  in  the 
margin.  There  is  a  Calendar  prefixed,  as  well  as  a  Lr.tin 
dedication,  "  Sacrosanctae  et  individuae  Trinitati,"  &c.  The 
main  interest  of  this  dedication  is  the  account  given  by  the  Ed  tor 
of  his  inducements  to  the  work.  He  admits  having  taken  many 

1  This  had  been  decided  on  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  1604. 
7  Llewelyn's  Versions  of  the  Bible,  p.  28. 

98 


liberties  with  the  former  translation,  varying  it  and  altering  it  as 
he  deemed  expedient  "ut  et  hie  sit  a/i</)z8o^w/xevov  Tra/saSay/xa,  et 
dictu  sit  difficile,  num  vetus  an  nova,  Morgani  an  mea,  dicenda 
sit  versio" 

He  goes  on  to  state  that  the  former  impression  of  the  Bible 
had  been  exhausted,  that  many  or  most  of  the  churches  were 
either  without  any,  or  only  possessed  of  imperfect  copies,  and 
modestly  adds  that  as  no  one  else  had  thought  of  a  republication. 
he  himself  had  embarked  upon  the  work  of  translation.  Dr. 
Llewelyn,  who  makes  a  comparison  between  England  and  Wales 
in  this  matter,  draws  attention  to  the  credit  deserved  by  Bishop 
Parry  in  that  "  he  was  entirely  a  volunteer,"  1  whereas  the  English 
version  had  behind  it  the  full  weight  and  influence  of  the  King 
and  Government.  Parry  had  responded  to  the  needs  of  his 
country,  which  was  on  the  verge  of  being  plunged  into  pre- 
Reformation  darkness,  for  the  few  copies  left  in  the  churches 
were  all  that  stood  between  monoglot  Welshmen  and  the 
extinguishing  of  that  light  which  Bishop  Morgan's  zeal  and 
scholarship  had  kindled. 

Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd,  was  Chaplain  to  Bishop  Parry 
at  this  time,  and  was  of  invaluable  help  to  his  Ordinary  in  the 
production  of  this  great  work.  He  was  deeply  versed  in  the 
Hebrew  and  Greek  languages,  and  had  spent  the  best  part  of 
his  life  in  studying  the  language  of  his  own  country,  as  his 
Grammar  and  Dictionary  testify.  He  had  also  taken  an  active 
share  in  Bishop  Morgan's  translation,  and  now  brought  his  ripe 
scholarship  and  experience  to  bear  upon  the  new  project.  It 
was  an  uncommonly  high  privilege  to  have  shared  in  the  two 
principal  translations  of  the  Bible,  and  he  esteemed  it  so.  A 
Chancellor  of  St.  Asaph  and  Bangor  wrote  of  Dr.  Davies  "/« 
Bibliorum  (Britan.  scilicet)  ultima  et  emendata  editione,  Joannes 
Davies  perutilem  impendit  operam"*  Anthony  Wood  (1632-1695) 
the  distinguished  Oxford  scholar,  who  preserved  a  vast  quantity 
of  information  concerning  the  alumni  of  that  University, 

1  Llewelyn's  Versions  of  the  Bibk^  p.  31.     "ibid,  p.  32. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

which  might  otherwise  have  been  lost,  paid  an  especial  compli- 
ment to  the  work  of  Dr.  Davies,  and  weighed  his  fitness  for  the 
task  in  the  following  words x :  "  He  was  esteemed  well  versed 
in  the  history  and  antiquities  of  his  own  nation,  well  versed  in 
the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages,  a  most  exact  critick,  an 
indefatigable  person  and  well  acquainted  with  curious  and  rare 
authors." 

The  number  of  books  published  in  this  edition  is  not 
known.  From  its  size  it  was  principally  intended  for  public 
worship,  and  probably  the  number  did  not  exceed  that  of  the 
churches  and  chapelries. 

Some  account  must  now  be  given  of  Bishop  Parry,  the 
master-mind  and  originator  of  this  work. 

Bishop  Richard  Parry  (1560-1623)  was  one  of  eight 
distinguished  prelates,  natives  of  Wales,  who  in  succession 
occupied  the  See  of  St.  Asaph.2  He  was  born  at  Ruthinin  1560,3 
educated  at  Westminster  School  under  the  able  tuition  of  William 
Camden,  entered  as  a  Student  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  1580, 
and  afterwards  proceeded  to  Holy  Orders.  It  is  incorrect  to 
state  that  he  became  master  of  Ruthin  Grammar  School,  for 
Gabriel  Goodman's  school  had  not  yet  been  founded.  Wood 
and  Bishop  Humphreys  both  state  that  he  taught  at  Ruthin,  but 
it  was  possibly  at  some  institution  which  existed  prior  to  1590 — 
the  date  of  Dean  Goodman's  foundation.  In  1592,  he  was 
appointed  Vicar  of  Gresford  and  Chancellor  of  Bangor  Cathedral, 
and  in  1599  he  became  Dean  of  Bangor.  At  Bishop  Morgan's 
death  in  1604,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  He 
died  at  Dyserth,  in  Flintshire,  in  1623,  and  was  buried  at  St. 
Asaph  Cathedral,  as  Bishop  Morgan  had  been. 

A  short  account  of  Dr.  John  Davies  will  be  given  in  the 
chapter  dealing  with  his  Grammar. 

The  chief  aim   of  the  translators  seems   to  have  been   to 
simplify  and  clarify  the  language  and  idioms.      Bishop  Morgan 

*Athen\  Oxon:  i.  p.  597.  2  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  390. 
3  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Parry,  Esq.,  of  Pwll  Halojj,  Denbighshire,  a 
noble  family, 

100 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 


had  kept  rather  too  closely  to  the  original,  and  had  introduced 
with  too  great  frequency  such  expressions  as}>na,fe/fy,  gan  hynny, 
which  were  unidiomatic,  and  could  easily  be  avoided  by  using 
the  simple  relative  a.  In  many  cases  the  Hebraisms  of  Bishop 
Morgan  were  rejected  for  the  Anglicisms  of  the  1611  Bible. 
Gwilym  Lleyn,  Gwallter  Mechain,  and  Gweirydd  ap  Rhys  have 
made  comparisons  between  the  1588  and  1620  editions,  and  have 
furnished  numerous  illustrations  which  show  the  respective 
merits  and  defects  of  the  two  editions.  The  general  opinion 
seems  to  be  that  although  Bishop  Parry's  Bible  is  in  some  respects 
an  advance  on  Bishop  Morgan's,  numerous  instances  can  be 
pointed  out  where  the  latter  excelled.  The  syntax  has  certainly 
been  considerably  modified  in  the  1620  edition.  It  will  be 
sufficient  to  give  a  few  instances  which  are  typical  of  the  corrections 
made  in  this  edition  : 


BISHOP   MORGAN. 

1.  Yna  dec  brodyr  loseph. 

2.  Pharao  gan  hynny  a  ddywed- 

odd. 

3.  Felly  y  gwyr  a  gymmerasant 
yr  anrheg. 

4.  Ei  gwrysc  hi  oeddynt  addfed 
[eu]  grawnwin. 

5.  Efe  a  gyscodd  hefyd   ac  a 
freuddwydiodd. 

6.  Tydi  a  oruchwyli  fy  nhy  fi, 
ac   ar   dy   fin   y  cusana  fy 
mhobl  oil. 

7.  burgynnod. 

8.  elephant.  Job  40  I0 

9.  Wele  efe  a  orthryma  afon 
[fel]  na  phrysuro  hi  i  [redeg] 
efe    a    obeithie    y   rhuthre 
lorddonen  iw  safn  ef.  Job  40  l8 


BISHOP    PARRY. 

1.  A  dec  brodyr  loseph. 

Gen.  42  3 

2.  A  Pharao  a  ddywedodd. 

Gen.  41  '7 

3.  A'r  gwyr  a  gymmerasant  yr 
anrheg.  Gen.  43  IS 

4.  Ei  grawnsypiau  hi  a  ddug 
rawnwin  addfed.   Gen.  40  10 

5.  Ac    efe   a    gysgodd    ac    a 
freuddwydiodd.      Gen.  40  s 

6.  Tydi  a  fyddi  ar  fy  nhy,  ac 
wrth    dy    air  di   y   llywod- 
raethir  fy  mhobl  oil. 

Gen.  41  4° 

7.  celaneddau.  Gen.  15  IZ 

8.  behemoth.  Job  40  js 

9.  Wele  efe  a  yf  yr  afon  [ac] 
ni  phrysura,  efe  a  obeithiai 
y  tynnai  efe  yr  lorddonen 
i'w  safn.  Job  40  23 

101 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


BISHOP   MORGAN. 

10.  [Myfi]  yr  hwn  a  osodais  yr 
anialwch  yn  dy  iddo  :  a'r 
morfa  yn  drigfa  iddo  ef. 

u.  Cof  yw  gennym  y  pyscod  y 
rhai  a  f  vvyttasom  yn  yr  Aipht 
yn  rhad. 

1  2.  Etifeddiaeth  a  syrthiodd  i  ni 
mewn  [lleoedd]  hyfryd. 

13.  Ac  fe  a  ddygwyd  dau  eraill,  y 
rhai  [oeddynt]  ddrwgweith- 
redwyr  i'w  rhoi  i'w  marwol- 
aeth  gyd  ag  ef. 

14.  Yn  trin  tarian  a  gwaiw-ffon. 

15.  O  honoch  ill  dau. 

1  6.  Rhoddasant  yn  ol  eu  gallu  i 
dryssor-dy'r  gwaith  chwe 
myrddiwn,  a  mil  o  ddrac- 
monau  aur,  a  phum  mil  o 
bunnoedd  arian. 

17.  A  chafwyd  mewn  cist. 

1  8.  Gofidus  yw. 

19.  Rhoddais  hefyd  fiswrn  ar  dy 
wyneb. 

20.  Ffieidd-dra  anrheithiol. 

21.  Ac  wedi  iddo  roi  diolch  efe 
a'i  torres. 

22.  Ffigyswydd  gwylltion. 


BISHOP   PARRY. 

10.  Yr     hwn     y    gosodais     yr 
anialwch  yn  dy  iddo  :    a'r 
diffaethwch  yn  drigfa  iddo. 

Job  39  6 

11.  Cof  yw  gennym  y  pyscod  yr 
oeddym  yn  ei  fwytta. 

Num.  ii  s 

12.  Y  llinynau  a  syrthiodd  i  mi 
mewn  lleoedd  hyfryd. 

Psalm  i66 

13.  Ac  arweiniwyd    gyd   ag   ef 
hefyd  ddau  ddrwgweithred- 
wyr     eraill     i'w     rhoi     i'w 
marwolaeth.    St.  Luke  233' 

14.  Yn     medru    trin    tarian    a 
bwccled.  i  Chron.  1 2  8 

1 5.  O  honoch  eich  dau. 

Gen.  27  « 

1 6.  Rhoddasant  yn  61  eu  gallu  i 
dryssor-dy  y  gwaith  un  fil  a 
thriugain  o  ddracmonau  aur, 
a  phum  mil  o  bunnoedd  o 
arian.  Ezra  2  69 

17.  A  chafwyd  yn  Achmetha. 

Ezra  6  2 

1 8.  Drwg  diobaith  ydy w.  Jer.  27' 

19.  Rhoddais  hefyd  dlws  ar  dy 
dalcen.  Ezek.  16  I2 

20.  Ffieidd-dra  anghyfaneddol. 

St.  Matt.  24  's 

21.  Ac    a'i   bendithiodd  ac   a'i 
torrodd.          St.  Mark  14  " 

22.  Sycamorwydden. 

St.  Luke  1* 


IQ2 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 


BISHOP  MOIU;AX. 

23.  Dy  adnabod  ti  yr  unic  wir 
Dduw. 

24.  Yr  adnevvyddir  pob  peth. 


25' 


Yn  ol  hir  amser. 


26.  Canys  y  mae  synwyr  y  cnawd 
yn  farwolaeth. 

27.  Ni  wn  i  fy  mod  yn  euog  o 
ddim. 

28.  Terfysg. 


29.  Gan     ryglyddu 
mhob  dim. ' 


bodd    ym 


BISHOP    PARRY. 

23.  Dy  adnabod  di  yr  uni.;  v;ir 
I  )duw.  St.  Jo  Jin  1 7  a 

24.  Hyd     amseroedd    adferiad 
pob  peth.  Acts  3  al 

25.  Ac   wedi  i    dalm   o   amser 
fyned  heibio.          Acts  27  9 

26.  Syniad  y  cnawd  manvolaeth 
yw.  Romans  8  6 

27.  Ni  wn  i  ddim  arnaf  fy  hun. 

i  Cor.  4  * 

28.  Anghydfyddiaethau. 

2  Cor.  12  20 

29.  Gan     ddwyn     ffrwyth     ym 
mhob  gweithred  dda. 

Col.  i  I0 

30.  Canys  byw  i  mi  yw  Crist, 
a  marw  sydd  elw,   Phil,  i  " 

31.  Brychau  a  meflau  ydynt. 

2  Peter  2  '3 

32.  Telynau  a  phiolau  aur. 

Rev.  5  * 

From  these  examples  it  is  fairly  obvious  that  all  the  changes 
made  were  not  improvements.  A  noted  instance  is  number  (10), 
where  the  word  diffaethivch  has  been  substituted  for  morfa.  The 
English  translation  is  "  barren  land  "  (with  "  salt  places  "  in  the 
margin).  Bishop  Morgan's  word  morfa  certainly  embodies  that 
idea,  whereas  diffaethwch  may  be  any  desolate  place  not  partaking 
of  that  marshy  character.  And  as  Dr.  Parry  inserts  halendir  in 
the  margin,  it  is  very  difficult  to  see  why  he  made  the  change. 

In  example  (u)  he  has  ei  fwytta  instead  of  the  plural  eu 
bwytta,  which  is  obviously  required  after  pyscod.  This  was 
corrected  in  1799  in  the  S.P.C.K.  edition  published  at  Oxford 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Jones,  curate  of  Creaton.1 

1  Ballinger's  Bible  itt  Wales t  p.  20  (Bibliography) 


30.  Canys  byw  i  mi  (yw)  Crist, 
ac  elw  yw  marw. 

31.  Brychau    ydynt     a    tharys- 
clynau. 

32.  Telynau  a  chrythau  aur. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

In  example  (13)  Parry's  translation  is  again  at  fault,  for  the 
inference  is  that  more  than  two  malefactors  were  led  with  our 
Lord  to  their  death.  The  Bible  Society  corrected  this  mistake. 
In  the  duoglot  Testament  published  by  the  Clarendon  Press  in 
1826  under  the  supervision  of  the  Rev.  John  Jones,  M.A.  (loan 
Tegid),  the  verse  is  more  correctly  translated  :  "  Ac  arweiniwyd 
gyd  ag  ef  hefyd  ddau  eraill,  drwgweithredwyr,  i'w  rhoi  i'w  marwol- 
aeth." 

In  example  (14)  the  1620  translation  makes  the  soldier  fight 
with  a  shield  and  a  buccula  (bwcclcd).  The  buccula*  was  really 
part  of  the  helmet — the  beaver  or  cheek- piece;  so  that  the 
learned  bishop's  portrait  is  that  of  a  soldier  clad  in  armour,  but 
having  no  weapon  of  defence,  whereas  Bishop  Morgan  arms  him 
with  a  spear  (gwaiw-ffon).  It  is  strange  that  Dr.  John  Davies 
allowed  this  mistake  to  pass,  for  in  his  Latin -Welsh  Dictionary 
he  gives  buccula  —  "  bochig,  anadlfa'r  helm,  crib  yr  helm." 

In  example  (15)  ill  dau  of  the  1588  edition  is  incorrect. 
Rebecca  is  speaking  to  Jacob,  face  to  face,  and  the  expression  *'// 
dau  is  only  used  of  two  who  are  absent.  In  this  instance  the 
1620  edition  is  correct. 

There  is  at  least  one  clear  instance  in  which  the  revisers  fell 
into  the  fault  they  sought  to  avoid — number  (32)  in  the  above 
list.  The  1588  version  had  "  telynau  a  chrythau  aur,"  which 
Bishop  Parry  changed  into  "  telynau  a.£hiolau  aur,"  thinking  that 
Morgan  had  translated  the  English  vials  as  crythau,  mistaking 
it  for  viols.  But  Bishop  Morgan  had  translated  the  Greek  word 
<£ioAas  as  crythau,  which  is  its  correct  meaning,  for/^/and/^/'a/ 
are  but  corruptions  of  vial.  So  Bishop  Parry  fell  into  the  snare, 
which  he  mistakenly  thought  had  caught  his  predecessor.* 

1  Gweirydd  ap  Rhys  (p.  411)  confuses  buccula  with  tucitla,  two  words 
which  have  an  entirely  different  meaning.  The  latter  means  a  young  cow,  a 
heifer ;  in  Cicero  it  is  nsed  for  the  bronze  statue  of  a  cow  (at  Athens,  the  work 
of  Myron). 

*  Ballinger  remarks  of  the  1620  Bible  :  There  were  many  errors  ;  and 
about  1666,  and  afterwards  about  1672.  according  to  the  British  Museum 

Catalogue,  either  Charles  Edwards  (the  author  of  Hanes  y  Ffydd or 

R  [sic  George]  Griffith,  D,D.,  Bishop  of  St,  Asaph),  prepared  and  published 

104 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

It  is  admitted  by  those  competent  to  judge  that  either  of 
the  two  Welsh  translations  (1588  and  1620)  of  the  Scriptures  is 
equal  to  any,  and  superior  to  many  that  have  appeared.  ^ Vales' 
debt  of  gratitude  to  those  responsible  for  them  can  never 
adequately  be  expressed.  It  was  a  labour  of  love  on  their  part 
from  beginning  to  end.  Dr.  John  Davies  states  that  he  went 
back  to  his  heavy  task  from  the  lighter  ones,  which  he  had  to 
perform  in  the  daily  routine  of  his  life  as  incumbent  of  a  country 
parish,  with  increased  zest  and  redoubled  energy,  which  shows 
how  near  it  lay  to  his  heart.  Many  generations  have  enjoyed  the 
fruits  of  their  labour,  and  their  influence  upon  Wales  can  never 
be  estimated. 

Part  of  the  reward  of  Bishop  Parry  and  Dr.  Davies  has  been 
that  their  work  has  remained,  with  slight  variations,  the  standard 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  for  three  centuries.  These  variations 
are  not  very  material.  They  affect  the  orthography,  sometimes 
the  change  in  initial  mutations,  the  printing  in  capitals  of  many 
proper  names,  the  division  of  chapters  into  paragraphs,  and 
occasional  supplementary  words.  But  in  the  main,  all  impressions 
that  have  since  appeared,  are  but  transcripts  of  the  great  edition 
of  1620. l  It  is  to  Wales  what  the  present  Authorised  Version 
of  1 6 1 1  is  to  England.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  Bishop 
Parry's  translation  deprived  Wales  of  some  of  the  fruit  of  Bishop 
Morgan's  scholarship.  It  followed  the  1611  English  Bible.  The 
greatest  tribute  to  Bishop  Morgan  is  that  the  improved  renderings 
introduced  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the  English  Bible  are  in 
many  cases  identical  with  those  in  his  1588  Bible,  which  proves 
that  he  had  translated  directly  from  the  original. 


A  further  and  very  important  step  was  taken  in  the  dissemi- 
nation of  the  Scriptures  in  1630,  when  there  was  issued  : 

a  foolscap  folio  sheet  (4  pp.)  of  errata,  entitled  Sonic  Omissions  and  Mistakes 
in  the  British  Translation  and  Edition  of  the  Bible  appoint  id  to  be  had  and 
read  in  the  Churches  in  Wales,  to  be  supplied  and  rectified" — The  Bible  in 
Walest  p.  8  (Bibliography). 

1  Llewelyn's  Welsh  Versionst  p.  33. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"Y  Bibl  Cyssegr-lan,  sef  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 

2  Tim.  3.  1 6,  17 Printiedig  yn  Llundain,  gan  Robert 

Barker,    Pnntiwr    i   Ardderchoccaf   fawrhydi   y   Brenin ;    a 

chan  Assignes  John  Bill.     Anno  Dom.,  1630." 

This  Bible  was  popularly  known  as    Y  Bibl  Bach,  a  name 

given  it  by  Vicar  Prichard  in  Canwyll  y  Cymry,  in  the  following 

lines  : 

"  Mae'r  bibl  bach  yn  awr  yngysson, 
Yn  iaith  dy  fam  i'w  gael  er  coron, 
Gwerth  dy  grys  cyn  bod  heb  hwnnw, 
Mae'n  well  na  thre  dy  dad  i'th  gadw." 

Quoted  from  the  1672  edition,  p.  8. 

It  was  also  known  as  Beibl  Midltwn.  Mr.  Ballinger,  in  his 
excellent  book,  The  Bible  in  Wales,  states  that  it  is  not  improba- 
ble that  the  Rev.  Robert  Llwyd,  Vicar  of  Chirk,  Denbighshire, 
corrected  the  press  for  this  edition  "  (p.  9,  Bibliography). 

Mr.  J.  H,  Davies,  M.A.,  states  that  he  has  seen  two  editions 
of  the  Scriptures  printed  in  1630;  the  title  pages  are  exactly 
similar,  but  there  are  many  distinctions  up  to  the  end  of  the  fifth 
sheet,  which  he  enumerates.1 

This  was  the  first  portable  Welsh  Bible,  and  the  two  men 
most  directly  responsible  for  its  publication  were  Sir  Rowland 
Heilyn  and  Sir  Thomas  Middleton.  (The  names  are  often  spelt 
Hey  tin  and  Myddelton.} 

It  is  hard  to  realise  that  the  Bible  had  not  yet  found  its  way 
into  Welsh  homes.  Dr.  Llewelyn  writes  :3  "  There  was  no 
provision  made  for  the  country,  or  for  the  people  in  general ;  as 
if  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Word  of  God,  at  least  no 
further  than  they  might  hear  it,  in  their  attendance  in  public 
worship,  once  in  the  week.  This  is  astonishing  !  " 

Astonishing  as  it  is,  it  can  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the 
reasons  given  in  the  introductory  chapter  to  this  work,  viz.,  that 
there  was  no  printing-press  in  Wales,  and  almost  insurmountable 
difficulties  stood  in  the  way  of  the  production  of  so  vast  a  work 
as  this  proved  to  be.  It  necessitated  the  presence  of  some  one 

1  Trans,  of  Cvmmrod.  Sac.,  1897-8,  p.  17.        -Bible  Versions,  p.  36 
10$ 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

on  the  spot  to  read  the  proof-sheets.  It  is  well  known  what 
obstacles  Bishop  Morgan  had  to  overcome.  The  difficulties  were 
far  more  tangible  than  many  suppose,  and  it  requiries  a  little 
effort  of  the  imagination  at  this  date  to  realise  them  even 
remotely.  It  is  matter  for  deep  thankfulness  that  the  great 
Elizabethan  Bishop  got  his  work  published  when  he  did,  and  that 
Bishop  Parry  and  Rowland  Heilyn  (the  one  for  the  Churches 
and  the  other  for  the  people)  achi  eved  their  respective  tasks  before 
the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  which  might  have  put  back  the 
project  for  a  considerable  time. 

The  Bible  of  1630  was  much  more  useful  to  the  country 
as  a  whole  than  the  large  folio  volumes  of  Morgan  and  Parry. 
One  writer  truly  remarks  that  the  advantages  of  a  large  folio  are 
not  very  obvious  even  in  churches.  The  octavo,  on  the  other 
hand,  can  be  adapted  to  most  uses,  and  is  at  the  same  time  so 
much  cheaper  that  it  comes  within  the  means  of  most  ordinary 
individuals. 

It  is  to  Welsh  citizens  settled  in  London  that  the  praise  is 
due  for  this  foresight  on  behalf  of  their  countrymen.  London 
Welshmen  have  won  the  reputation  of  a  high  patriotic  sense  of 
duty  to  the  land  of  their  birth.  So  many  instances  can  be 
recorded  in  the  past,  and  recalled  in  the  present,  of  this  noble 
spirit  on  the  part  of  the  Cymry  of  the  Metropolis,  that  it  has 
become  almost  second -nature  to  look  to  them  for  help  and 
guidance  in  the  solution  of  those  problems  which  involve  the 
highest  interests  of  Wales.  For  the  advancement  of  religion  and 
the  spread  of  education  they  are,  and  always  have  been,  ready  to 
extend  a  helping  hand.  This  was  so  in  the  seventeenth  century 
in  the  notable  instance  now  under  consideration.  Living  amidst 
the  greatest  advantages  this  land  can  offer,  but  always  mindful  of 
those  qualities  in  their  race  which  would  utilise  such  to  the  full, 
if  they  possessed  them,  they  have  often  applied  their  minds  to  the 
problem  how  to  bring  such  advantages,  or  some  part  of  them, 
within  the  reach  of  their  countrymen  in  the  Principality,  and  it 
has  usually  been  solved  in  the  same  generous  way  as  Sir  Rowland 

IQ7 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Heilyn  and  Sir  Thomas  Middleton  solved  it  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  —  "  With  a  noble  concern  for  the  good  of  their  fellow- 
subjects  they  procured  at  their  own  expense  an  octavo  impression 
of  the  Welsh  Bible."  * 

Strype,  in  his  Survey  of  London,  states  that  "  Mr.  Rowland 
Heilyn,  an  Alderman  of  London,  sprung  from  Wales,  charitably 
and  nobly,  at  his  own  cost  and  charges,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  I.,  caused  the  Welsh  Bible  to  be  printed."2  He 
refers,  of  course,  to  the  1630  Bible.  But  Sir  Thomas  Middleton, 
also  a  native  of  Wales  and  a  Magistrate  and  Alderman  of  London, 
co-operated  with  Heilyn  and  shared  the  burden  of  expense. 
About  1500  copies  were  printed,  it  is  said,3  but  this  rests  only 
on  a  computation  made  by  Thomas  Rees  and  based  on  the 
number  of  parishes.4  Moses  Williams  states  that  the  Welsh 
preface  to  this  Bible  "  bespeaks  the  Curator  of  the  Press  to  be  a 
native  of  Duffryn  Clwyd,  at  least  to  have  lived  a  considerable  time 
somewhere  in  that  neighbourhood."  (Ballinger's  "  Bible  in 
Wales"  p.  28).  The  implication  is  that  Robert  Llwyd,  Vicar  of 
Chirk,  who  was  known  to  be  in  London  at  the  time,  was  responsi- 
ble for  this  work.  The  print  of  the  1630  Bible  is  rather  small. 
The  Prayer  Book  at  the  beginning  and  Pry's  Psalms  at  the  end 
have  each  a  separate  title  page. 

Of  those  responsible  for  the  financial  side  of  the  undertaking, 
Rowland  Heilyn  (?-  1637)  was  a  native  of  Montgomery- 
shire, of  the  family  of  Pentreheilyn.s  The  Heilyns,  as  the  name 
implies  (it  means  cup-bearer  or  butler)  were  hereditary  cup-bearers 
to  the  Princes  of  Powys.  Rowland  Heiiyn  settled  in  London 
and  accumulated  great  wealth,  which  he  freely  dispensed  in 
religious  charities.  Not  only  did  he  contribute  towards  the 
publication  of  this  edition  of  the  Bible,  but  also  to  the  Llwy:>r 
Hyffordd  and  Dr.  Davies'  Dictionary,  for  the  benefit  of  his 
countrymen.  Williams  in  his  Eminent  Welshmen  states  that  he 
became  Sheriff  of  London.6 


1  Llewelyn's  Versions,  p.  38.        2Vol  ii.  b.  5,  p.  142  (1720  Ed.). 
linger's  Bible  in  Wales,  p.  9  (Bibliography).      4ibid,  p.  28.      B  This  residence 
is  in  the  Parish  of  Llandysilio.     6  See  also  Cam.  Reg.,  1795,  P-  279- 
1  08 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

The  Heilyns  in  older  times  had  been  noted  for  their  extrava- 
gance of  the  public  money.  This  gave  rise  to  the  saying  "  Hael 
Heilyn  o  god  y  wlad."1  But  Rowland  Heilyn's  generosity  was  of 
a  different  stamp.  His  character  is  summed  up  by  Barnard  and 
Vernon  in  Dr.  Peter  Heilyn's  Life  (1663)  as  "a  man  of  singular 
goodness."  Peter  Heilyn  was  his  nephew,  and  was  in  high  favour 
with  Charles  I.  and  Archbishop  Laud. 

Sir  Thomas  Middleton  (?-i63i),  his  coadjutor  in  this 
good  work,  was  the  fourth  son  of  Richard  Middleton,  of  Denbigh. 
He  was  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1613,  and  was  a  brother  of  the 
great  Sir  Hugh  Middleton  and  the  bard  Gwilym  Ganoldref.  His 
father,  Richard  Middleton,  had  settled  in  London  as  a  goldsmith, 
and  had  amassed  a  great  fortune,  with  part  of  which  he  had 
founded  Chirk  Castle,  in  1595,  as  the  family  estate.2 

As  a  sequel  to  the  publication  of  this  crown  octavo  edition 
of  the  Bible,  an  anonymous  book  appeared  in  1631,  entitled 
Car-wry  Cymru.  Its  object  was  to  exhort  the  Cymry  to  make 
use  of  the  Scriptures  now  brought  within  their  reach.  Amongst 
its  contents  is  a  Welshman's  prayer  for  forgiveness  for  his  neglect 
of  the  Scriptures  hitherto,  a  prayer  that  his  heart  may  be  humbled 
to  keep  this  law,  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  for  family  worship, 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  to  be  used  on  Sundays  by  the  head 
of  the  family,  a  Grace  before  Meat  and  after  Meat,  a  letter  to  the 
reader  by  Robert  Llwyd,  Vicar  of  Y  Waun,  and  an  exhortation  in 
English  "  To  all  the  Worthy  and  True-hearted  Well-willers  and 
furtherers  of  the  Spiritual  weale  of  Wales  who  have  put  their 
helping  hands  and  hearts  to  that  late,  necessary,  and  worthy 
worke  of  Setting  forth  the  Bible  in  Welsh  in  a  small  volume." 
The  book  ends  with  T/ie  Pronunciation  of  the  Letters  in  the 
British  Tongue,  and  A  Comparison  of  the  Letters  in  Welsh  to  the 
Greeke  and  Hebrew  Letters.  By  Edward  Kyffin.  Stephen 

1  Cambrian  Register,  1795,  P-  27%-  2The  Middletons  or  Miltons,  as 
they  are  sometimes  called,  lived  previously  at  Gwaenynog.  Sir  Thomas 
Middleton,  the  son  of  the  above  named  helper  of  Rowland  Heilyn,  took  the 
side  of  Parliament  in  the  Civil  War,  but  afterwards  went  over  to  the  King. 
Sec  Gwallter  Mechaii.'s  /itvvtf,  vol.  ii.  p.  434. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Hughes,  in  1671,  acknowledged  the  great  liberality  of  Sir  Thomas 
Middleton  in  the  production  of  the  1 630  Bible,  in  these  words  : J 
"  Y  mae  y  coffaciwriaeth  o  Syr  Thomas  Middleton  am  y  gwaith 
hwnnw  yn  anrhydeddus,  ac  yn  fendigedig  yng  Nghymru,  ac  a  fydd 
felly  tra  fo  crefydd  Gristionogawl  ynddi." 


There  was  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  published  in 
1641,  although  its  existence  has  often  been  doubted.  Mr.  J.  H. 
Davies  has,  however,  cleared  all  uncertainty  on  this  point.  He 
found  a  copy  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  W.  Thomas,  and  gives 
the  full  title-page  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Cymmrodorion  Society, 
1897-8,  on  page  20,  as  follows  : 

Testament  j  Newydd  |  Ein  j  Harglwydd  |  A'n  |  Hiachawd- 
wr  |  lesu  Grist  |  Rhuf.  i.  xvi.  |  Nid  oes  arnaf  gywilydd  o 
Efengyl  Grist  |  oblegid  gallu  Duw  yw  hi  er  Jechydwriaeth  i 
bob  |  un  ar  sydd  yn  credu  j  [Engraving  of  the  English  Arms 
with  the  mottoes,  "  Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pense,"  and  "  Dieu  et 
mon  droit "]  |  Argraphwyd  yn  y  flwyddyn  M.D.CXLI.  | 


In  1647  appeared : 

"  Testament  Newydd  ein  Harglwydd  a'n  Hiachawdwr  Jesu 

Grist.      Rhuf.    i    16 Printiedig    yn     Llundain    gan 

Matthew   Symmons    yn    ymyl    y    Hew    goreurog    yn    heol 

Aldersgat.     1647." 

It  is  rather  a  stodgy  volume  with  the  lines  printed  right 
across  the  page,  and  not  in  columns.  It  was  printed  at  the 
instance  of  Vavasor  Powell  and  Walter  Cradoc.  Brook  mentions 
a  Testament  procured  by  the  latter  "  for  the  use  of  the  common 
people,"2  and  this  is  probably  the  edition  to  which  he  refers. 
There  were  two  issues  of  the  New  Testament,  both  bearing  the 
date  1647  (Ballinger's  Bible  in  Wales,  p.  30).  They  agree  as  to 
paging  and  size,  but  the  type  differs.  They  are  both  very  incorrect. 

Mr.  John  Ballinger  states  that  "  this  edition  was  the  first  by 
and  for  Nonconformists,'^  from  which  it  must  be  inferred  that  he 

'Gwallter  Mechain's    Works,   vol.   ii.,   p.  435.         2  Brook's    Life  of  the 
Puritans,  vol.  iii.  p.  386.        3  The  Bible  in    Wales,  p.  10  (Bibliography). 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

doubts  the  existence  of  the  1643  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
reputed  to  be  the  work  of  William  Wroth  and  Walter  Cradoc.1 
There  were  1,000  copies  of  the  1647  edition  orinted,  and  the 
impression  is  full  of  printer's  errors. 

The  next  important  edition  of  the  whole  Bible  was  published 
in  1654-56,  entitled  : 

"Bibl  Cyssegr-lan,  sef  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 
2  Tim.  3.  1 6,  17  [quoted].  Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  James 
Flesher,  ac  a  werthir  gan  Thomas  Brewster,  tan  lun  y  tri  Bibl 
yn  ymmyl  Pauls,  yn  y  Flwyddyn  1654." 

This  was  the  second  edition  of  the  Bible  in  octavo,  and  the 
fourth  publication  of  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures  in  Welsh,  and 
consisted  of  six  thousand  copies.  The  supply  of  the  1630  Bioles 
and  the  1647  Testaments  was  now  exhausted,  and  it  was  possible 
to  guage  the  number  likely  to  be  required  to  prevent  an  early 
shortage.  Hence  this  big  venture,  for  it  was  a  very  considerable 
supply  for  those  days.  Dr.  Llewelyn,  who  complains  "  that  we 
are  not  informed  to  whom  we  are  particularly  obliged  for  this 
supply,"  was  disposed  to  ascribe  it  to  the  temper  of  the  nation 
and  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  granted. 

As  it  was  published  in  the  first  year  of  the  Protectorate,  it 
was  commonly  called  "Cromwell's  Bible."2  There  is  also  a 
tradition  that  Cromwell  contributed  to  the  cost  of  publishing  it. 
The  Scriptures  had  now  had  some  time  to  percolate  into  the 
lives  of  the  people,  and  realising  their  worth,  there  was  no  doubt 
a  steady  demand  for  them.  The  mottoes  of  the  time  were 
Scriptural,  and  the  temper  of  the  age  is  also  witnessed  in  its  battle 
cries,  its  medals,  and  its  incriptions.  The  name  "Cromwell's 
Bible  "  may  possibly  have  had  something  to  dc  with  the  Crom- 
wellian  Commissioners,  who  had  been  at  work  for  seme  time  in 
Wales  by  this  date.  It  may  indicate  the  intere.';t  of  these  men  in 
securing  the  edition. 

1  Llyfr  y  Cymry,  p.  132.  2  Llewelyn  incidentally  remarks  that  Cromwell's 
ancestors  are  said  to  have  come  from  Wales,  and  were  originally  named 
Williams, 

III 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Edmund   Prys'  Psalms,    dated  1656,  appeared  at  the   end. 
Stephen  Hughes  states  that  the  cost  of  a  copy  was  six  shillings.1 


Another  edition  of  the  New  Testament  appeared  in  1654, 
entitled  : 

"  Testament  Newydd  ein  Harglwydd  a'n  Hiachawdwr  Jesu 

Grist.     London.     Printed  by  M.  S.  for  John  Allen  at  the 

Sun-rising  in  St.  Panl's  Churchyard.     1654." 

Although  it  is  mentioned  by  Charles  Edwards  in  Y  Ffydd 
Ddi-FJuant( Oxford,  1671),  p.  152,  no  copy  of  this  edition  is 
known  to  bibliographers.  He  states  that  6,000  copies  were 
printed  in  small  type,  and  a  ceitain  number  in  larger  type,  "  er 
mwyn  hen  bobl,  a  rhai  a  fyddent  a  golugon  gwannach."  It  is 
said  to  have  contained  also  a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms. 

Rowlands'  Cambrian  Bibliography  states  that  an  edition  of 
the  whole  Scriptures  was  issued  in  i67i,2  and  attributes  it  to 
Thomas  Gouge  and  Stephen  Hughes,  but  he  has  probably  con- 
fused it  with  the  1672  edition  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
appeared  under  the  title  : 

"  Testament  Newydd  ein  Harglwydd  a'n  Hiachawdwr  Jesu 

Grist.     The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 

Christ.      Rhuf.  I.  16 Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  E. 

Tyler  a  R.  Holt,  dros  Samuel  Gellibrand,  tan  lun  y  Bel  (at 

the  Ball)  ym  Monwent  Powls.     1672." 

This  edition  reached  to  two  thousand  copies,  and  was 
edited  by  Stephen  Hughes,  who  states  that  he  was  assisted  by 
Hugh  Edwards,  of  Llangadoc,  Carmarthenshire ;  David  Thomas, 
of  Margam :  Samuel  Jones,  of  Brynllywarch,  Llangynwyd,  Gla- 
morganshire ;  William  Lloyd,  of  St.  Petrox,  Pembrokeshire  ;  and 
possibly  Thomas  Gouge,  although  he  is  not  named  by  Stephen 
Hughes  in  his  Letter  preceding  the  1672  edition  of  Canwylly 
Cymru,  from  which  the  other  names  are  taken.  Gouge  had, 
however,  started  his  beneficent  work  in  the  Principality  in  1671. 
Gwilym  Lleyn  must  have  been  misled  as  to  a  1671  edition  of  the 
1  Preface  to  1672  edition  of  Canwyll y  Cymry.  *  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  198. 
1X2 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL  WRITINGS 

Bible  ;  no  copy  of  this  Bible  has  yet  been  found  by  any  biblio- 
grapher, and  if  6,000  copies  had  been  printed  in  that  year,  it  is 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  they  were  so  entirely  exhausted  by 
1677-8  as  to  necessitate  a  new  edition  in  so  short  a  time,  in 
addition  to  the  2,000  New  Testaments  produced  in  1672.  This 
impression  of  the  New  Testament  is  preceded  by  the  Psalms,  as 
in  the  Prayer  Book,  and  followed  by  Prys'  metrical  version. 


The  1677-8  edition  was  a  very  important  work.     Its  title 
ran  : 

"Y  Bibl   Cyssegr-lan,  sef  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 

II.  Tim.  iii.  16,  17 Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  John 

Bill,  Christopher  Barker,  Tho.  Newcomb,  a  Henry  Hills, 
Printwyr  i  Ardderchoccaf  fawrhydi  y  Brenin  :  ac  a  werthir 
gan  John  Hancock,  tan  lun  y  tri  Bibl  yn  Popes -Head  Alley, 
yn  Cornhill.  1677." 

Upon  inquiry  made  in  1674,  it  was  ascertained  that  not 
above  20  copies  of  the  1654  Bible  remained  on  sale  in  London 
and  not  above  32  throughout  England  and  Wales.1  This 
occasioned  a  new  octavo  edition  which  appeared  in  1677-8,  which 
consisted  of  a  number  of  copies  issued  without  the  Apocrypha 
and  Prayer  Book,  and  a  small  number  of  copies  without  the 
Apocrypha  only.  The  learned  author  of  Versions  of  the  Bible 
relates  that  "  one  thousand  of  them  were  immediately  given  away 
among  the  poor,  and  the  rest  were  reserved  and  disposed  in 
proper  places,  to  be  sold  at  four  shillings  per  copy  bound."  The 
Duke  of  Bedford,  1613-1700  (William  Russell,  fifth  Earl  and 
first  Duke  of  Bedford),  contributed  largely  to  the  expense  of  the 
thousand  free  copies.  Archbishop  Tillotson  had  given  the 
strongest  support  to  Thomas  Gouge  and  Stephen  Hughes  in  this 
great  undertaking.  Tillotson  and  Gouge  were  good  friends,  and 
among  the  works  of  the  former  is  a  "  Sermon  on  the  death  of 
Mr.  Gouge."  The  latter  had  done  so  much  for  the  dissemination 
of  the  Scriptures  and  other  good  books  in  the  Welsh  tongue  that 
something  of  the  story  of  his  life  must  be  given  here. 
1  Dr.  Llewelyn's  Versions^  p.  43. 

"3 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Thomas  Gouge  (1605-1681)  was  the  son  of  Dr.  William 
Gouge,  Rector  of  Blackfriars,  London.  He  was  born  in  1605, 
and  educated  at  Eton  and  King's  College,  Cambridge,  where  he 
was  elected  to  a  fellowship,  which  he  subsequently  exchanged  for 
the  living  of  Colsden,  near  Croydon.  After  a  short  stay  there  he 
removed  to  St.  Sepulchre,  London,  where  he  laboured  strenuously 
from  1638  to  1662.  He  was  a  moderately  wealthy,  but  extremely 
generous  man,  and  his  assistance  to  the  many  poor  in  his  parish 
was  proverbial.  Some  of  his  means  he  employed  in  inducing  the 
ignorant  poor  to  attend  his  classes  held  every  morning  in  the 
church.  He  supplied  work  to  many  who  would  undertake  it, 
doling  out  "flax  and  hemp  for  them  to  spin,"1  and  paying  them 
generously.  In  1662  he  resigned  his  living  because  he  refused  to 
submit  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  London's  loss  proved  a  great 
gain  to  Wales,  where  he  transferred  his  educational  energy  and 
zeal  in  1 6 7 1 .  He  had  been  led  by  reading  the  life  of  Joseph  Alleine 
to  pursue  the  same  ideal,  by  devoting  his  life  to  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel  in  Wales.2  He  held  a  licence  from  some  of  the 
bishops  to  preach  in  Wales.  3  His  first  visit  to  this  country 
impressed  him  with  its  lack  of  educational  advantages,  and  the 
ignorance  which  prevailed  in  consequence.  He  established  many 
schools  in  different  parts,  more  especially  in  the  towns,  and  he 
directed  his  efforts  to  secure  that  the  children  of  the  poor  should 
be  taught  to  read  and  write  English  and  be  carefully  grounded 
in  religious  principles,  and  that  good  books  should  be  circulated 
to  counteract  vice.  In  1674  Gouge's  efforts  were  supplemented  by 
the  establishment  of  a  "  Welsh  Trust  "*  for  promoting  his  work 
on  a  larger  scale.  Under  the  direction  of  Gouge  and  supported 
by  Dr.  Tillotson,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  Benjamin  Whichcot, 
Edward  Stillingfleet,  Richard  Baxter,  Matthew  Poole,  Thomas 
Firmin  and  many  other  philanthropists,  this  Welsh  Trust  main- 
tained a  large  number  of  Charity  Schools  in  North  and  South 
Wales.  One  of  its  designs  was  the  "printing  and  buying  of 

1  Calamy's  Ejected  Ministers,  vol.  i.  p.  185.  2  The  Bible  in  Wales,  p.  35. 
3  Calamy's  Ejected  Ministers,  p.  186.  4  Article  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Cymmrodorion  Society  (1904-05),  p.  81,  by  the  Rev.  T.  Shapkland,  M.A, 

U4 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Welsh  books  for  free  distribution  among  the  poor."  For  this 
work  Gouge  enlisted  the  help  of  many  Welshmen,  notably  Stephen 
Hughes,  Charles  Edwards,  Richard  Jones,  William  Jones,  David 
Jones  and  James  Owen.  These  men  translated,  edited,  and  con- 
tributed original  works  of  great  literary  merit  for  the  movement, 
which  the  Trust  published  and  freely  distributed  among  the  poor. 
Among  them  the  following  may  be  mentioned  as  examples  :  Holl 
Ddyledsivydd  Dyn,  1672,  2,000  copies;  Testament Newydd,  1672, 
2,000  copies;  Yr  Ymarfer  o  Dduiuioldeb,  1675,  2,000  copies; 
Hyfforddiadau  Christionogol,  1675,  3,500  copies  ;  Y Bibl,  1677-8, 
8,000  copies.  The  educational  work  and  the  free  distribution 
of  these  devotional  books  in  the  Welsh  language  led  to  the  literary 
revival  of  this  period.  Thomas  Gouge  died  in  1681.  He  had 
been  a  great  benefactor  to  Wales,  a  .most  benevolent  and  self- 
sacrificing  man,  who  gave  two -thirds  of  his  income  towards  charit- 
able and  educational  objects.  After  his  death,  the  Trust  gradually 
withdrew  its  labours  from  Wales  to  London,  where  it  ultimately 
led  to  the  foundation  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian 
Knowledge  in  1698-9,'  so  it  will  be  seen  that  the  "Trust"  pro- 
moted by  Gouge  was  the  culminating  point  of  a  movement  which 
spread  far  beyond  the  confines  of  Wales. 

The  1677-8  edition  of  the  Bible  comprised  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  the  Apocrypha,  and  the  Metrical  Version  of  the 
Psalms.  The  Bible  itself  was  printed  in  1677,  the  Prayer  Book 
and  Psalms  in  1678;  and  the  whole  work  appeared  early  in  the 
latter  year. 

The  accuracy  of  this  edition  has  often  been  remarked.  The 
1654  edition  ("Cromwell's  Bible,"  as  it  was  called)  had  been 
printed  very  incorrectly.  There  were  instances  in  which  "  whole 
words  and  parts  of  sentences  had  been  omitted."2  To  rectify 
these  mistakes  and  to  guard  against  others,  Mr.  Stephen  Hughes 
undertook  to  read  the  proofs,  and  performed  his  task  so  well  that 
very  few  blemishes  appear.  He  was  an  educated  Welshman  and 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  literary  language  of  his  nation, 
*  Manual  of  Welsh  /.»/.,  pp.  166-7.  "Llewelyn's  Versions,  p.  46, 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

and  has  deserved  well  of  his  country  for  his  unostentatious  efforts 
in  this  and  many  other  good  works.  Calamy's  verdict  has  been 
endorsed  by  those  who  are  well  able  to  judge  that  "  this  edition 
was  well  printed  and  came  out  very  correct."1 

Stephen  Hughes  (1622-1688),  who  did  so  much  for  the 
enlightenment  of  the  Cymry  of  that  age,  was  born  at  Carmarthen 
in  1622.  Nothing  is  known  of  his  early  education,  but  he  was  a 
man  who  possessed  considerable  literary  powers,  and,  in  addition, 
the  more  distinctive  Cymric  characteristic  of  burning  eloquence, 
and  a  missionary  zeal  quite  unrivalled  amongst  his  contemporaries. 
Calamy  describes  him  as  "a  plain,  methodical,  affectionate 
preacher,  who  insisted  much  upon  the  great  and  substantial  things 
of  religion."2  He  was  given  the  benefice  of  Mydrim  in  1654, 
took  possession  in  1655,  and  was  deprived  in  1660. 

He  saw  the  importance  of  Gouge's  movement,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  help  him,  and  it  shows  how  well  he  understood  his 
countrymen  when  he  proceeded  to  collect  Vicar  Prichard's  poems 
and  to  publish  them.  The  complete  work,  as  it  left  the  hands  of 
its  first  editor,  was  published  under  the  title  Canwyll y  Cymry  in 
1 68 1,  and  will  be  noticed  later,  along  with  the  other  works  which 
were  the  fruit  of  Stephen  Hughes'  labours.  Calamy  describes  the 
Bible  of  1677-8  as  "the  best  extant  edition  of  the  old  British 
Bible."  3  Stephen  Hughes  died  in  1688,*  some  little  time  before 
the  publication  of  another  edition  of  the  Bible,  in  which  he  had 
been  interested. 

This  appeared  in  1689-90  under  the  title  : 

"  Y  Bibl  Cyssegr-lan,  sef  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 

Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Charles  Bill,  a  Thomas  Newcomb, 

Printwyr  i  Ardderchoccaf  Fawrhydi  y  Brenin  a'r  Frenhines, 

1689." 

In  twelve  years,  the  eight  thousand  Bibles  of  Thomas  Gouge 
and  Stephen  Hughes'  edition  were  exhausted,  and  the  book  again 
became  scarce  and  dear,  but  the  latter  lived  long  enough  to  know 

1  Calamy's  Ejected  Ministers,  vol.  ii.  p.  718.  *  Nomonjormisfs  Afemortal, 
Hi.  p.  498.  3  ibid.  4  Dr.  Llewelyn  in  his  Bible  Versions,  p.  48,  gives  1687 
as  the  year  of  his  death,  but  is  incorrect, 

116 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

the  fresh  need  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  prepare  to  meet  it ;  so 
he  exerted  himself  once  again,  but  died,  as  stated  above,  in  1688, 
a  year  before  the  edition  he  had  set  on  foot  was  printed.  The 
1 690  impression,  according  to  Calamy,  consisted  of  ten  thousand 
copies,  and  the  editor  was  Mr.  David  Jones,  Llandyssilio,1  who 
took  great  trouble  with  the  work,  but  failed  to  maintain  the 
standard  of  accuracy  established  by  Stephen  Hughes.  The 
principal  patron  of  this  publication  was  Lord  Wharton,  a  noble- 
man who  had  been  very  prominent  in  promoting  the  Revolution 
of  1688,  who  proved  a  very  faithful  servant  to  William  III.,  and 
was  afterwards  one  of  Queen  Anne's  ministers  "  in  the  glorious 
part  of  her  reign." 2 

This  was  the  last  public  edition  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
David  Jones  had  been  assisted  in  the  work  by  several  citizens  of 
London,  and  many  of  the  nobility  had  lent  their  support  to  the 
enteiprise.  This  Bible  was  the  fourth  octavo  impression  of  the 
whole  of  the  Scriptures  issued  since  1630.  It  is  lacking  in  many 
respects  compared  with  the  1677-8  edition.  Neither  print,  paper, 
nor  characters  are  as  good  as  in  that  impression.  Lord  Wharton, 
who  did  so  much  to  promote  it,  left  a  will  in  which  he  desired 
that  a  certain  number  of  books  should  be  distributed  yearly  to 
candidates  who  complied  with  his  conditions.  Dr.  Llewelyn 
erroneously  states  that  it  was  Thomas,  Lord  Wharton,  who  left 
this  will,  and  Gwilym  Lleyn  has  followed  him  in  this.  The 
inscription  printed  on  these  presentation  Bibles  disposes  of  the 
mistake.  It  runs  as  follows :  "  Philip,  Lord  Wharton,  died 
February  4,  1696,  aged  83,  and  by  his  will  left  to  his  Trustees 
certain  estates  in  Yorkshire,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  to  be 
devoted  each  year  to  the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  other  books. 

By  the  terms  of  the  will  the  ist,  i5th,  25th,  37th,  joist, 
ii3th,  and  i45th  Psalms  should  be  learnt,  if  possible,  by  the 
recipient." 


A  new   supply  of  large  Bibles   for   the  churches   was   also 
issued  in  1690.     Its  title  ran  : 

1  Nonconformist"1  s  Memorial,  Hi.  p.   497.          -  Dr.   Llewelyn's    Versions^ 
p.  49. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Y  Beibl  Cyssegr-lan,  sef,  yr  Hen  Destament  a'r  Newydd. 

Rhydychain,  Printiedig  yn  yTheatr  yn  y  flwyddyn  MDCXC." 

This  was  the  first  time  for  the  Scriptures  in  Welsh  to  be 
printed  out  of  London. 

The  large  Church  Bibles  had  been  issued  seventy  years 
before  by  Bishop  Parry,  and  must,  by  this,  have  been  in  a  very 
dilapidated  state.  Bishop  William  Lloyd,  of  St.  Asaph,  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  securing  the  new  supply.  It  was  known  as 
Beibl  yr  Esgob  Lloyd*  The  work  was  supervised  by  the  Rev 
Pierce  Lewis,  an  Anglesey  man,  a  native  of  Llanfihangel  Tre'r 
Beirdd,  and  an  alumnus  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  where  he  was 
known  as  the  Welsh  Rabbi?.  Richard  Morris,  brother  of  the 
great  Lewis  Morris  o  Fon  (patron  of  Goronwy  Owen),  states  that 
he  saw  the  proof  sheets  of  this  edition  in  Pierce  Lewis'  home  in 
Anglesey,  and  insists  that  the  latter  was  entirely  responsible  for 
the  work,  in  that  Bishop  Lloyd  knew  no  Welsh. 3  In  a  letter  of 
Richard  Morris',  which  appeared  in  the  Greal,  1805,  p.  282,  a 
description  of  Pierce  Lewis'  work  is  given. 

Although  this  Bible  was  intended  to  correct  many  mistakes, 
especially  printers'  errors  in  later  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  Welsh, 
it  is  a  most  imperfect  edition  and  suffers  much  from  comparison 
with  Bishop  Parry's  Bible  of  1620.  It  restored  the  orthography 
in  proper  names  according  to  the  text  of  that  work.  The  Mosaical 
dates  appear  for  the  first  time  on  the  margins  of  this  edition; 
This,  at  least,  must  be  attributed  to  Bishop  Lloyd,  for  he  had; 
written  a  work  on  the  chronology  of  the  Bible. 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  what  share,  apart  from  this,  Lloyd 
had  in  the  project.  If  Richard  Morris'  contention  is  correct, 
it  was  probably  limited  to  his  patronage  of  the  work,  owing  to  his 
knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  the  churches.  And  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  he  supported  it  with  financial  aid.  It  would  hardly 

1  Llyfr.  y   Cymry.   p.  248.         2The  rest  of  his  record,  as  given   in  the 
Alumni  Oxon :   is  as   follows: — Matriculated  at  Jesus  College,   Oxon,,  1681 
aged  17;  B.A.,    1684;  M. A.,   1688  ;  Rector   of  Llanfachreth,  in  Anglesey, 
1690  ;  Vicar  of  a  moiety  of  Bangor,   1693  ;  Rector  of  Llanfairfechan.   1698. 
3  Llyfr.  y  Cvmry,  p.  248.     The  bard  Edward  Morus  states  otherwise, 

118 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

have  been  called  "  Bishop  Lloyd's  Bible,"  if  he  had  not  been 
prominent  in  some  way  in  its  publication. 

It  became  the  fashion  in  later  days  to  minimise  the  work  of 
English-speaking  bishops  in  their  efforts  for  the  Principality. 
'Granted  that  it  was  a  bad  principle  to  appoint  such  men,  if 
eminent  Welsh -speaking  Welshmen  could  be  found  (and  there  is 
no  gainsaying  this  contention),  it  is  equally  wanting  in  principle 
to  ignore  the  labours  they  engaged  in  after  they  had  been 
appointed,  and  to  fail  to  do  them  the  justice  they  deserve  for 
many  efforts  on  their  part  to  promote  not  only  the  highest  spiritual 
interests  of  the  Principality,  but  also  the  general  welfare  of  the 
wider  community  in  which  Wales  had  merged  itself,  and  from 
which  it  derived  many  advantages,  even  if  it  had  to  endure  some 
disadvantages. 

Bishop  William  Lloyd  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard 
Lloyd,  B.D.,  of  Henblas,  Anglesey.  He  v.as  born  at  Tilehurst  in 
Berkshire,  where  his  father  was  Vicar,  in  1627, x  and  was  educated 
at  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  but  afterwards  proceeded  to  Jesus  College, 
where  he  became  Scholar  and  Fellow.  Henry  Vaughan  was  a 
contemporary  of  his  at  that  College.  In  1654  he  became  Rector 
of  Bradfield  in  Berkshire,  a  benefice  given  him  by  the  Cromwellian 
Commissioners.  In  1660  he  was  made  Prebend  of  Ripon,  and 
in  1666  Chaplain  to  Charles  II.  His  first  preferment  in  Wales 
was  to  the  Archdeaconry  of  Merioneth  in  1668,  from  which  he 
passed  to  the.  Deanery  of  Bangor  in  1672,  and  the  bishopric 
of  St.  Asaph  in  1680,  in  which  See  he  succeeded  the  eminent 
scholar  and  writer  Isaac  Barrow,2  a  man  of  great  intellectual  force, 
who  was  previously  Master  of  Trinity,  Cambridge,  and  whom 
Charles  II.  described  as  "the  best  scholar  in  England."3  It  was 
while  Lloyd  was  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  that  he  suffered  imprison- 
ment in  the  Tower  along  with  six  other  bishops  who  refused  to 
read  James  II. 's  "  Declaration  for  Liberty  of  Conscience  "  in  1688, 
William  III.  rewarded  him  by  making  him  Lord  Almoner  in  1688, 

1  Williams'  Eminent   Welshmen,    pp.   287-8.         2  Athen  :  Oxon  ;  ii.   pp. 
IO&8  - 1092.     3  Garnett  and  Gosse,  Hist,  of  Eng.  ZiV.,  vol.  iii.  p.  122. 

119 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

and  subsequently  Bishop  of  Worcester.  He  was  one  of  the 
stoutest  opponents  of  Popery,  and  in  a  life  crowded  with  work  he 
found  time  to  publish  many  pamphlets  directed  against  Rome. 
Amongst  his  numerous  writings  may  be  mentioned  : 

"  The  late  Apology  in  behalf  of  the  Papists,  reprinted  and 
answered  in  behalf  of  the  Royalists.     1667." 
"A  Seasonable  Discourse  showing  the  Necessity  of  maintain- 
ing   the    Established    Religion   in    opposition    to    Popery." 
1672-3. 

"  Considerations  touching  the  true  way  to  suppress  Popery  in 
this  Kingdom." 

"  An  Historical  Account  of  Church  Government  as  it  was  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  when  they  first  received  the 
Christian  Religion,"  1684. 

He  also  compiled  a  "  History  of  the  Church  of  England," 
which  he  asked  Dr.  Gilbert  Burnet  to  write,  and  furnished  him 
with  a  curious  collection  of  his  own  observations.  Two  of  his 
theological  works  are :  "  The  Harmony  of  the  Gospel "  and 
"The  Chronology  of  the  Bible."  He  also  published  several 
sermons  and  tracts  against  Popery.  He  died  at  the  advanced  age 
of  90,  in  1717. 

(b)  THE  EDITIONS  OF  THE  PSALMS  AND  THE 
BOOK  OF  COMMON   PRAYER. 

I.   THE  EDITIONS  OF  THE  PSALMS. 

The  first  edition  of  the  Psalms  in  metrical  form  appeared  in 
1603,  under  the  title  : 

"  Psalmae  y  Brenhinol  Brophwyd  Dafydh,  gwedi  i  cynghan- 

edhu  mewn  mesurau  cymreig.     Gann  Gapten  Wiliam  Mid- 

delton.     Yn  nesaf  y  galhodh  at  fedhwl  yr  Yspryo*felan. 

Simon  Stafford  a  Thomas  Salisbury  a'i  printiodhyn  Llunden. 

1603." 

This  book  is  pjinted  in  black  letter,  and  has  a  letter  "To 
the  Reader  "  by  Ttiomas  Salisbury.  Captain  Middleton,  or 
120 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Myddleton  as  the  name  is  more  often  spelt,  was  the  third  son 
of  Richard  Myddleton,  of  Galch  Hill,  Governor  of  Denbigh 
Castle,  and  was  a  literary  man  of  considerable  attainments.  He 
was  a  great  friend  of  the  well  known  grammarian,  Dr.  John 
Dafydd  Rhys,  to  whose  Grammar  he  had  added  an  appendix, 
which  contained  several  fine  poems,  and  who  writes  of  him  in 
glowing  terms  both  as  a  friend,  a  soldier,  and  a  bard.  He  refers 
to  him  as  "  f y  hen  gyfaill  caredig  y  milwr  calonocaf  ar  for  ac 
ar  dir,  a'r  mwyaf  cyfarwydd  niewn  barddoniaeth  Gymreig,  Gwilym 
Ganoldref."  He  had  been  educated  at  Oxford,  either  for  the 
Church  or  for  the  Bar,  but  had  chosen  the  more  adventurous 
career  of  a  soldier,  and  afterwards  joined  the  Navy  and  attained 
the  rank  of  captain.  He  rendered  good  service  in  the  war 
between  England  and  Spain,1  and  was  quite  a  celebrity  in  his  day. 

The  above  named  version  of  the  Psalms  was  bis  greatest 
work.  He  finished  it  in  January,  1595,  in  the  island  of  Scutum 
in  the  West  Indies,2  but  it  was  not  printed  until  after  his  death, 
when  the  work  was  undertaken  by  his  friend,  Thomas  Salisbury, 
in  1603. 

A  Welsh  writer  quoted  in  Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh 
makes  the  following  observation  of  William  Myddleton's  effort, 
which  is  described  in  that  work  as  "  an  inimitable  composition," 
and  "  a  master  piece  of  Weish  alliteral  concatenation  :"  "  Er  iddo 
fod  yn  mhell  o'i  wlad  enedigol,  yr  oedd  ei  serch  yn  fawr  tuag  atti, 
ac  er  ei  fod  yn  mhlith  rhai  oedd  yn  siarad  iaith  estronol,  y 
Gymraeg  oedd  iaith  ei  feddwl."  3 

He  had  also  issued  another  work  in  Welsh  entitled  Bardhon- 
iaeth  neu  Brydydhiaeth,  y  Lhyfr  Kyntaf,  in  1593,  which  was 
republished  in  1710  in  the  Flores  Poetarum  Britannicorum.  He 
used  the  same  orthography  as  John  Dafydd  Rhys. 

William    Myddleton's    Psalms   were   reprinted   at   Llanfair- 

1  An  episode  is  related  in  Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh  of  his  saving  the 
fleet  in  1591,  by  his  dogged  watchfulness  of  the  Spaniards,  keeping  in  touch 
with  them  the  whole  time,  and  giving  timely  warning  to  the  English  Admiral, 
p.  150.  2The  note  appende  i  to  the  book  is:  "  Apud  Scutum  insulam 
QccicUntalium  Indent  m"  3  Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh,  p.  150. 

J2I 


WALES  IN   THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Caereinion,  in  1827,  with  a  masterly  preface  by  the  Welsh  scholar 
and  poet,  Walter  Davies  (Gwallter  Mechain).  But  this  version  of 
the  Psalms  never  became  popular,  because  the  masses  could  not 
follow  the  cynghanedd.  Something  lighter,  freer,  more  flexible, 
and  more  lyrical  was  needed  before  the  psalms  could  come  into 
general  use  as  spiritual  songs  in  public  worship. 

Thomas  Salisbury,  who  was  responsible  for  printing  the 
work,  was  the  son  of  Pierce  Salisbury,  of  Clocaenog,  Denbighshire. 
He  had  been  educated  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  and  is  stated  by 
Wood  to  have  been  full  of  poetic  fancy,  and  to  have  practised 
that  art  while  at  the  University.  His  "  History  of  Joseph "  in 
English  verse,  in  1635,  won  him  distinction,  and  justifies  the 
praise  given  him  by  the  recorder  of  all  the  Oxford  worthies  of 
that  time,  that  he  had  ':  a  natural  geny  to  poetry  and  romance 
....  and  became  a  most  noted  poet  of  his  time." x  Wood 
further  states  that  he  was  an  active  supporter  of  the  King's  cause 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion,  in  1642.  He  died  in  1643. 

An  elegy  signed  by  Edward  Kyffin  and  entitled  Mawl-gerdk 
farwnad  i  Gapten  William  Middleton  precedes  the  work,  and  also 
a  poem,  by  Thomas  Price,  of  Plas  lolyn,  entitled  Mawl-gerdh  i*r 
Awdur. 

In  the  same  year  (1603)  appeared  "Rhann  o  Psalmae 
Dafydd  Brophwyd.  I'w  canu  ar  61  y  don  arferedig  yn  Eglwys 
Loegr.  Simon  Stafford  a'i  Printiodd  yn  Llunden  dros  T.S."  1603. 

This  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms  for  use  in  the  Services  of 
the  Church,  was  the  work  of  Edward  Kyffin,  and  contains  but 
thirteen  psalms,  together  with  a  Welsh  preface  by  the  author. 

Edward  Kyffin  (?-i6o3)  was  the  son  of  Richard  Kyffin,  of 
Glascoed,  Llansilin,  and  the  brother  of  Maurice  Kyffin,  the  author 
of  the  famous  work  Deffynniad  Ffydd  Eglwys  Loet>r,  who  had 
himself  purposed  to  bring  out  a  metrical  translation  of  the  psalms, 
but  had  never  found  that  leisure  which  he  sought  for  his  task. 
But  he  probably  inspired  his  brother  to  undertake  it.  In  Maurice 

1 A  then  :   Oxon :  ii.,  p.   30.      See  also  Williams'   Eminent    Welshmen^ 
pp.  465-6. 

122 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Kyffin's  will1  he  mentions  Edward  Kyffin  as  "  a  preacher."  Very 
little  is  known  of  the  latter,  except  that  he  had  finished  fifty  of 
the  psalms  in  their  metrical  form,  before  his  death  in  1603,  but 
of  these  only  i.  -  xiii.  were  ever  published,  and  that  by  the  above- 
mentioned  Thomas  Salisbury.  Edward  Kyffin  died  of  the  great 
plague  which  visited  this  country  in  1603,  of  which  Vicar  Prichard 
wrote  in  his  Canwyll y  Cymry. 

The  merits  of  his  version  of  the  psalms  are  not  great,  but 
when  we  remember  the  time  and  conditions  of  the  work,  Kyffin's 
pioneer  attempt  to  make  the  Psalms  the  ballads  of  the  people 
entitles  him  to  a  distinct  place  in  Welsh  literature. 

This  brings  us  to  the  third  and  most  famous  metrical  version 
of  the  psalms,  which  appeared  in  this  century,  and  which  has 
remained  the  pre-eminent  version  up  to  the  present  time.  It  was 
that  published  by  the  celebrated  Archdeacon  Edmund  Prys 
in  1621,  under  the  title  : 

"  Llyfr  y  Psalmau.     Wedi  eu  cyfieithu  a'i  cyfansoddi  ar  Fesur 
Cerdd  yn  Gymraec.     Drwy  waith  Edmwnd  Prys,  Archdiacon 
Meirionydd.     Ai  Printio  yn  Llundain,  1621." 
This  edition  of  the  Psalms  first  came  out  as  part  of  the  Welsh 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  published  in  i62i.2 

Edmund  Prys  (1541-1623-4)  was  the  son  of  John  Prys,  of 
Tyddyn  Du,  Maentwrog,  and  was  born  in  1541,  as  he  himself 
states  in  his  Latin  verses  which  preface  Dr.  Davies'  Antiques 
Lingutz  Britannica".  He  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  in  Arts,  and  afterwards  proceeded 
to  Holy  Orders.  In  1572  he  became  Rector  of  Festiniog  and 
Maentwrog,  and  in  1580  Vicar  of  Llanddwywe,  which  living  he 
held  in  plurality.  He  was  appointed  Archdeacon  of  Merioneth 
in  1576,  a  dignity  he  held  for  47  years,  and  Canonicus  Secundus 
of  St.  Asaph  in  1602. 

'  The  woids  are:  "I  gyve  to  my  brother  Edward  Kyftin  preacher  the 
some  of  one  hundred  and  thirlie  poundts,  and  all  my  bookes  after  my  said 
Cozen  Mereu  th  shall  have  taken  such  as  he  likes  l>est  to  his  owne  use,"  p.  284 
of  the  late  Mr.  Wm.  i'richaid  Williams'  edition  of  Deffynniad  Ffydd  Eghvys 
Loegr.  -  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  102. 

123 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Thus  far  the  Welsh  nation  had  no  body  of  sacred  hymns 
in  their  own  language,  which  could  be  sung  at  public  worship- 
This  deficiency  was  generally  felt,  and  two  men,  William  Myddleton 
and  Edward  Kyffin,  had  already  attempted  to  fill  the  void,  with 
but  small  measure  of  success.  There  was  another,  Dafydd  Ddu 
o  Hiraddug,  who  also  attempted  the  work  a  little  earlier  than  the 
two  above-mentioned,  but  he  had  only  translated  twenty -six 
psalms,  and  these  were  fettered  by  cynghanedd.  Edmund  Prys 
had  the  intuition  to  see  wherein  the  others  had  failed,  and  he 
conceived  the  task  of  translating  the  psalms  in  the  free  metres 
which  would  be  understood  by  all.  The  method  adopted  by  the 
Archdeacon  showed  what  a  practical  man  he  was,  for,  if  tradition 
does  not  err,1  as  he  finished  each  psalm,  he  had  it  taught  to  his 
congregation  at  Maentwrog  during  the  week,  in  preparation  for 
the  following  Sunday  service  in  which  it  was  sung.  Thus  the 
theory  was  tested  by  practice,  and  it  proved  so  successful  that  it 
encouraged  Edmund  Prys  to  proceed  with  his  task  and  complete 
it. 

He  employed  twelve  free  metres  in  his  translation,  and  there 
are  twelve  hymn -tunes  in  his  book,  which  correspond  to  them. 
He  sets  forth  his  reasons  for  not  using  the  twenty -four  metres  of 
the  alliterative  system  known  as  cynghanedd,  as  follows  :  "  Tri 
pheth  a  wnaeth  na  chyfieithwyd  y-  Salmau  bendigaid  ar  yr  un  o'r 
pedwar  mesur  ar  hugain. 

Un  yw,  am  .na  allwn  ryfygu  clymu  yr  Ysgrythyr  Santaidd  ar 
fesur  cyn  gaethed,  rhag  i  mi,  wrth  geisio  cadw  y  mesurau,  golli 
meddwl  yr  Yspryd,  ac  felly  pechu  yn  erbyn  Duw,  er  mwyn 
boddloni  dyn. 

Yn  ail,  y  mae  Gair  Duw  i'w  ganu  mewn  cynulleidfa  santaidd 
o  lawer  ynghyd,  i  foliannu  Duw  yn  un  llais,  un  enaid,  ac  un 
galon ;  yr  hyn  a  allant  wneuthur  ar  y  mesur  gwael  hwn,  ac  ni  allai 
ond  un  ganu  cywydd  neu  awdl. 

Yn  drydydd,  pob  plant,  gweinidogion,  a  phobl  annysgedig  a 

1  It  would  explain  why  he  took  so  long  to  complete  the  long -'promised 
task,  but  one  would  expect  less  blemishes  in  work  tested  in  this  way. 

124 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

ddysgant  bennill  o  garol,  lie  ni  allai  ond  ysgolhaig  ddysgu  cywydd 
neu  gerdd  gyfarwydd  arall..  Ac  o  achos  bod  yn  berthynol  i  bob 
Cristion  wybod  ewyllys  Duw,  a'i  foliannu  ef,  mi  a  ymadewais  a'r 
gelfyddyd,  er  mwyn  bod  pa-.vb  yn  rhwymedig  i  wario  ei  dalent  at  y 
gorau.  Hefyd,  nid  wyf  fi  yn  cadw  rao'r  mesur  esmwyth  hwn  yn 
gywir  ymhob  man,  am  nad  oes  dim  yn  ein  hiaith  ni  mewn  synnwyr 
i  seinio  nac  i  odli  a  Dmv.  Am  hynny,  i  roddi  iddo  ef  ei  ragor  a 
pioedd  y  gerdd,  mi  a  rois  amryw  ddiphthongau  eraill  i  gyfateb  i'r 
gair  hwnnw,  yn  nesaf  ag  y  medrwn." 

The  thoroughness  with  which  he  entered  into  the  intricacies 
of  his  task  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  this  metrical  translation 
forms  an  excellent  commentary  on  many  expressions  in  the 
psalms  which  present  difficulties.1  Throughout  his  translations 
the  style  is  uniformly  good,  and  it  is  one  of  the  distinctive  merits 
of  the  work  that  Edmund  Prys  reduced  the  number  of  irrelevant 
words  (geiriau  llanw)  to  a  minimum.  Anyone  conversant  with 
the  poetry  of  that  age  will  recognise  in  this  a  considerable  achieve- 
ment. 

The  metre  which  he  mostly  employs  is  8.7.8.7  with  the 
accent  (ictus)  on  every  second  syllable.  But  there  are  many 
cases  of  irregular  accent,  which  some  superficial  critics  have 
ascribed  to  the  Archdeacon's  ignorance.  Better  acquaintance 
with  his  work  shows  that  it  was  designedly  done  in  order  to  fit  in 
with  the  sense  of  the  passage,  or  for  the  sake  of  variety.  It  has, 
however,  been  pointed  out  with  some  justice  2  that  the  emphasis 
is  sometimes  awkwardly  placed,  where,  with  a  slight  re-arrange- 
ment, it  could  have  been  avoided  : 

y  /  >  j 

e.g.         Gwrando  arnaf  fy  Arglwydd  byw. 

can  be  better  rendered  : 

/          /         /  * 

O  Gwrando  arnaf  f  Arglwydd  byw. 

His  rule  is  to  rhyme  the  last  syllable  of  the  first  and  third 
lines  with  the  strong  middle  syllable  of  the  second  and  fourth 
lines  respectively.  This  rhyming  is  called  the  awdl  gyrch,  and  is 
very  effective,  provided  it  is  not  used  to  the  degree  of  monotony  : 

1  Sec  Gwladgarwr,  Oct.,  1836.     !  Gwaitk  Gwalltcr  Mefhain^  i.  p.  541. 

"5 


e.g.         Y  sawl  ni  rodia  dedwydd  yw 

Yn  ol  drwg  ysiryw  gyngor. — i.   r. 

A  variant,  which  the  Archdeacon  often  uses,  is  to  make  the 
last  word  in  the  first  line  alliterate  with  the  strong  accented  word 

in  the  next  line  : 

e.g.         Duw  a  fforddia  ac  a  hoffa 

Hy-ffordd  y  g\vr  calonog. — xxxvii.  23. 

And   a  further  variant  is  to  employ  the  disguised  or  concealed 

awdl  (rhyme) : 

e.g.         Clyw,  Arglwydd  fi,  herwydd  o'ttiflatn 

Yn  hollawl  mae'n  nymuniad. — xxxviii.  9. 

His  manipulation  of  these  variants,  without  sacrificing  in  any 
degree  the  full  and  clear  meaning  of  the  original,  shows  not  only 
that  he  was  an  illustrious  bard,  but  also  that  he  understood  how  to 
apply  the  knowledge  of  the  original  languages  which  he  had 
acquired,  to  the  genius  of  his  own  native  tongue.  His  strong 
epithets  are  really  strong,  and  he  always  succeeds  in  presenting  a 
vivid  picture  to  the  mind.  In  a  couple  of  words  he  often  paints 
a  complete  picture,  and  his  language  is  commensurate  in 
strength  with  the  idea  he  portrays  :  e.g.,  note  the  contrast  between 
storm  and  calm  in  the  following  expressions  :  mdr  cynhyrfdon^ 
mdr  tonlefn ;  of  on  ffrydchwyrn,  afonydd  dyfrgrych..  In  mdr 
cynhyrfdon  we  are  reminded  of  Goronwy  Owain's  "rhyferthwy 
don,"  and  the  sea  in  a  wild  tumult  of  waves  presents  itself  to  our 
vision.  Both  these  bards  were  masters  of  concise  and  vivid 
expression.  Edmund  Prys  has  also  many  of  the  Dafydd  ab 
Gwilym  touches,  and  he  was,  no  doubt,  steeped  in  the  works  of 
Wales'  premier  poet.  That  something  of  the  latter  is  reflected  in 
Edmund  Prys  will  be  seen,  for  instance,  by  a  comparison  of 
D.  ab  Gwilym's  Cywydd  y  Daran  with  the  following  lines  : 

Dy  daran  modd  fry'n  y  nen, 

Dy  fellt  gwnaent  wybren  olau  ; 

Y  ddaear  isod  a  gyffrodd, 

Ac  a  ddychrynodd  hithau. — Ps.  Ixxvii,   16. 

In  some  of  the  Archdeacon's  lines  there  is  a  strident  majesty 
which  well  befits  his  theme  : 

e.g.         Pan  ddigiodd  Duw,  daeth  daiar-gryn, 
A  sail  pob  bryn  a  siglodd  ; 
A  chyffro  drwy'r  wlad  ar  ei  hyd, 
A'r  boll  fyd  a  gynhyrfodd. — Ps.  xviii.  8, 
126 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

In  others  he  succeeds  in  intensifying  the  original : 

e.g.         Duw,  tor  eu  dannedd  yn  eu  safn, 
Diwreiddia'r  llafn  o  dafod  ; 
Duw,  dryllia'r  bonau,  a  gwna'n  don  . 
Bob  grudd  i'r  c'nawon  llewod. — Iviii.  6. 

No  one  understood  the  genius  of  the  language  better  than 
Edmund  Prys,  and  his  further  poems,  which  must  be  deferred 
for  consideration  under  the  chapter  dealing  with  the  poetry  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  furnish  ample  testimony  in  support 
of  this  statement,  in  addition  to  what  has  already  been  remarked. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he  had  his  share  in  the  great 
work  of  translating  the  1588  Bible,  and  Bishop  Morgan  in  his 
preface  expresses  his  obligation  to  him  in  the  warmest  terms. 
What  part  he  took  in  that  work  is  not  known. 

The  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  literati  of  his  day 
can  be  appreciated  from  the  fact  that  Dr.  John  Davies,  who 
lived  not  more  than  a  day's  ride  from  him,  in  the  parish  of 
Mallwyd,  over  the  hills  beyond  Bwlch  Oerddrws,  dedicated  his 
Grammar  to  the  Archdeacon.  Edmund  Prys  wrote  some  elegant 
Latin  verses  in  commendation  of  that  work,  which  appeared  in 
1621,  the  same  year  as  his  own  magnum  opus.  In  them  he 
mentions  that  he  was  eighty  years  of  age,  and  this  is  one  of  the 
two  bits  of  evidence  we  have  in  support  of  1541  as  the  year  of 
his  birth,  but  it  is  fairly  conclusive.1  These  verses  bear  the 
impress  of  an  intellect  that  was  still  virile  and  clear.  There  is  no 
vestige  of  that  decrepitude  which  one  would  not  be  surprised 
to  find  in  the  work  of  an  octogenarian. 

Edmund  Prys  died  in  1623-4,  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  Maentwrog  Church,  where  a  grave  was  discovered,  when  the 
church  was  being  restored  through  the  unstinted  beneficence 
of  the  late  W.  E.  Oakeley,  Esquire,  of  Plas  Tan-y- Bwlch,  in 
1896,  but  no  trace  of  any  remains  was  found.  The  parishioners 
have  put  up  a  beautiful -stained-glass  window  on  the  west  side 
of  the  church  in  the  Archdeacon's  memory.  It  has  three  lights, 

1  The'other  evidence  is  contained  in  a  MS  in  the  library  at  Plas  Tan-y- 
bwlch,  Merionethshire. 

127 


and  depicts  on  the  right  hand  light,  the  Archdeacon  in  canonicals 
holding  a  scroll  in  his  left  hand  and  turning  in  rapt  attention  to 
listen  to  the  strains  of  David's  harp.  The  sweet  singer  of  Israel 
occupies  the  middle  light,  his  hands  sweeping  the  strings  of  his 
instrument.  On  the  left  light  is  St.  Twrog,  also  a  rapt  listener, 
holding  in  his  right  hand  a  scroll,  whilst  his  left  is  placed  upon 
Twrog's  stone,  which  is  reputed  to  have  been  that  saint's  first 
pulpit. 

The  different  editions  of  Edmund  Prys'  Psalms  which 
appeared  in  the  seventeenth  century  are  given  below.  They  were 
usually  added  as  an  appendix  to  Bibles  and  Prayer  Books,  but 
that  of  1648  was  a  separate  edition. 

1.  The   original  edition   of    1621,    which  formed    part  of  the 
Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin  issued  in  that  year.     The  music  of 
twelve  tunes  is  also  printed.     The  title  page  is  as  follows : 
Llyfr  y  Psalmau  Wedi  eu  cyfieithu,   a'i  cyfansoddi  ar  fesur 
cerdd,  yn  Gymraeg.     Drwy  waith  Edmwnd  Prys  Archdiacon 
Meirionydd,  A'i  Printio  yn  Llundain.   1621. 

Bonham  Norton  and  John  Bill :  London.    1621. 

2.  The  1630  edition,  bound  at  the  end  of  the  1630  Bible  (the 
octavo  volume  of  Rowland  Heilyn  and  Thomas  Middleton). 

3.  The  1638  edition,  bound  at  the  end  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  of  1634.     Gwilym  Lleyn  has  erred  in  calling  this  the 
1628    edition,1   and  has   been   followed   by   Glan    Menai.2 
Apparently,  the  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms  had  not  been 
bound  with  the  1634  Prayer  Book  at   its  first  appearance. 
It  has  a  separate  title  page  and  is  dated  1638. 

4.  The  1648  edition,  which  is  the  first  edition  found  of  the 
work  by  itself,  neither  bound  with  the  Prayer  Book  or  the 
Bible,    nor  designed    to    be    bound  with    them.     It    is    a 
duodecimo  edition,  and  a  very  handsome  little  volume. 

1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  104.  2  Edmwnd  Prys,  p.  129.  Glan  Menai  also 
mentions  a  1664  edition  attached  to  the  Prayer  Book  of  that  date.  But  it  is 
not  found  in  the  complete  copy  of  that  book  in  the  University  College  Library 
at  Bangor,  and,  no  doubt,  the  statement  is  inaccurate, 

128 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

5.  The  1656  edition,  bound  with  the   1654  Bible,  printed  by 
James  Flesher. 

6.  The  1672  edition,  bound  with  the  New  Testament,  issued 
by  Stephen  Hughes  in  that  year.     Printed  by  E.  Tyler  and 
R.  Holt. 

7.  The   1678  edition,  bound  with  the  1677-8   edition  of  the 
Welsh  Bible.     The  title  page  of  the  Psalms  bears  the  date 
1678,  as  also  that  of  the  New  Testament. 

8.  The  1687  edition,  printed  with  Thomas  Jones'  Prayer  Book. 
Caerludd. 

9.  The  1690  edition,  printed  with  the  1689-90  Bible,  produced 
by  David  Jones  of  Llandyssilio,  Carmarthenshire. 

10.  The  1700  edition,  bound  with  the  Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin^ 
which  appeared  in  that  year. 

(b)     II.  THE  BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER. 

Most  of  the  Welsh  editions  of  the  Bock  of  Common  Prayer 
published  in  this  century  contain,  as  we  have  noticed,  the  Psalms 
of  Edmund  Prys,  as  an  appendix.  These  psalms  are  usually 
preceded  by  a  metrical  version  of  the  Te  Deum,  Benedicite, 
Senedictus,  Cdn  Mair  Forwyn,  and  Can  Simeon  a'r  lesu  yn  ei 
freichian  (two  different  renderings).  It  must  also  be  clearly 
understood  that  the  Prayer  Book  proper  contains  the  version  of 
the  Psalms  which  appeared  in  the  1620  Bible,  usually  entitled 
"  Psalmau  Dafydd  o'r  un  cyfieithiad  a'r  Bibl  cyffredin." 

The  first  edition  of  the  Llyfr  Giveddi  Gyffredin  which 
appeared  in  this  century  was  that  of  1621.  The  editors  were 
Edmund  Prys  and  Dr.  John  Davies  of  Mallwyd.  We  have  no 
knowledge  how  the  work  was  apportioned  between  them,  but  it 
is  thought  that  the  latter  was  responsible  for  the  Catechism.  He 
makes  mention  of  this  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Owen  Wynn  of  Gwydyr, 
dated  January,  i627.T 

The  prayer  book  was  also  incorporated  with  the  1630  Bible, 
and  its  title-page  read  :  "  Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin,  a  gweinidogaeth 
*Lyfr.  y  Cymryt  p.  102. 

129 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Y  Sacramentau  :  A  Chynneddfau  a  Ceremoniau  eraill  yn  Eglwys 
Loegr.  Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Robert  Barker  Printiwr  i 
Ardderchoccaf  fawrhydi  y  Brenin  :  a  chan  Assignes  lohn  Bill. 
Anno.  Dom.  1630."  The  Epistles  and  Gospels  are  not  reprinted 
in  this  Prayer  Book,  inasmuch  as  it  was  prefixed  to  the  Bible. 
But  under  each  Collect  are  given  the  passages  fixed  for  that  day, 
and  in  the  New  Testament  they  are  marked  with  [  ]  at  the 
beginning  and  end,  and  in  the  margins  by  a  • — ' — •  for  the 
beginning  of  the  passage  and  a  ' — • — '  for  the  end. 

The  next  edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  appeared  in  1634, 
with  the  same  title-page  as  above,  except  that  gweinidogaeth  is 
misprinted  gwenidogaeth,  Sacramentau  —  Scarmtnatau,  and, 
"  Printiwyd  yn  llundain  gan  Assignes  lohn  Billag  i'w  gwerthu  gida 
Robert  Milborne  yn  sin  y  milgi  yn  mynwent  Paul.  1634." 
Edmund  Prys' Psalms  are  appended,  dated  1638.  It  is  a  small 
quarto  edition  printed  in  Black  Letter,  with  the  rubrics,  as  they 
should  be,  in  red.  It  is  preceded  by  a  Calendar,  and  its  ortho- 
graphy in  many  parts  is  reminiscent  of  William  Salesbury.  For 
instance,  such  forms  occur  as  Camberaec,  JBoreuawl,  Y  Letani, 
Dydd  Natalie,  Y  Croc-lith,  Dydd  lou  Dyrchafael,  Y  Commun, 
Bedydd  priuat,  Comminasion,  ttvyllysio-on,  rad  invariably  for  gras. 
Oll-alhtogi<yc  Hollalluog.  The  following  Collect  for  the  fourth 
Sunday  after  Epiphany  will  serve  as  a  fair  example  of  the  difference 
between  the  early  editions  of  the  iyth  century  and  our  modern 
version  : 

"  Duw  yr  hwn  a  wyddost  ein  bod  ni  wedi  ein  gosod  mewn 
cymmaint  a  chynnifer  o  beryglon  ac  nas  gallwn  o  herwydd 
gwendid  dynol  sefyll  bob  amser  yn  uniawn  :  caniadha  i  ni  iechyd 
enaid  a  chorph,  fel  y  bo  am  yr  holl  bethau  ydd  ym  ni  yn  eu 
dioddef  am  bechod,  allu  o  honom  drwy  dy  borth  di  eu  gorfod  a'u 
gorchfygu,  trwy  Grist  ein  Harglwydd.  Amen." 

The  next  edition  appeared  in  1664,  with  the  following  title- 
page  : 

"  Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin  a  Gweinidogaeth  y  Sacramentau,  a 

Chynneddfau  a  Ceremoniau  eraill  yr  Eglwys,  yn  ol  arfer 
130 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Eglwys  Loegr  ynghyd  a'r  Psallwyr  neu  Psalmau  Dafydd.     A 

Brintiwyd  yn  Llur.dain,  gan  S.  Dover,  tros  Edward  Ffowks  a 

Phetr  Bodvel.     MDCLXIV." 

This  book  was  meant  for  the  Prayer  Desks  of  churches.  It 
was  too  large  and  unwieldy  to  be  carried  about  by  the  worshippers. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  it  did  not  contain  Edmund  Prys'  metrical 
version  of  the  psalms. 

Another  edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  was  bound  with  the 
1677-78  Bible.  The  title  was  the  same  as  the  last  mentioned  up 
to  the  words  Eglwys  Loegr,  after  which  are  added  Printiedig yn 
Liu ndain  gan  John  Bill,  Christopher  Barker,  Thomas  Newcomb, 
a  Hen  ry  Hills,  1678. 

The  peculiarity  of  this  edition  is  that  it  contained  for  the 
first  time  in  Welsh,  services  for  the  Gunpowder  Plot  (Brad  y 
Powdr  Gwnn),  The  Martyrdom  of  King  Charles  I.  (Brenin 
Charles  y  Merthyr),  and  T/ie  Restoration  of  King  Charles  II,,  the 
last  named  under  the  title  Natalie  Mawrhydi  y  Brenin.  This 
Prayer-book  appeared  in  front  of  the  1677-78  Bible.  At  the 
end  of  the  Prayer-book  and  immediately  before  the  Bible 
appeared  the  following  Proclamation  from  Charles  II.  as  to  the 
three  new  Services  : 

Charles  R. 

Ein  hewyilys  a'n  pleser  yw,  i'r  Tair  Trefn  Gweddi  a  Gwein- 
idogaeth  hyn  a  wnaed  i'r  Pummed  o  Dachwedd,  y  Ddegfed  ar 
hugain  o  lonawr,  a'r  Nawfed  ar  hugain  o  Fai,  fod  allan  o  law  yn 
Breintiedig  ac  yn  gyhoeddedic  ;  ac  o  hyn  allan  i'\v  gyd-gynnwys 
gyda  Llyfr  y  Weddi  Gyffredin  a  Liturgi  Eglwys  Loegr,  i'w  harfer 
bob  blwyddyn  ar  y  dywededic  ddyddiau,  mewn  pob  Cadeiriawl  a 
Cholegawl  Eglwys  a  Chapel  ac  Awl '  o  fewn  ein  dwy  Unifersiti,  ac 
o'n  Colegau  o  Eaton  a  Chaer-wynt,  ac  rriewn  pob  Eglwys  a 
Chapel  Plwyfawl  o  fewn  ein  teyrnas,  Arglwyddiaeth  Gymry,  a 
Thre  Berwic  ar  Tweed. 

Rhoddwyd  yn  Ein  Llys  yn  y  Neuadd- \venn  yr  ail  dydd  o  Fai 
yn  y  Bedwaredd  Flwyddyn  ar  ddeg  o'n  Gwladychiad. 

Trwy  orchymyn  ei  Fawrhydi, 

1  HaiK  EDW.  NICHOLAS. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

In  1683  an  Oxford  edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  was  issued. 
It  was  modelled  on  Gouge's  edition  (1677-78,  above).  Copies  of 
this  are  very  scarce,  but  the  writer  has  seen  one  which  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Rev.  T.  Shankland,  of  the  University  College 
Library,  Bangor.  Bishop  Humphreys,  of  Hereford,  states  in  a 
letter  dated  28  November,  1706,  "  that  the  8vo  Edition  printed 
at  Oxford.  A.D.  1683,  is  the  fittest  pattern  for  the  Composer,"  i.e., 
of  the  new  Prayer  Book,  which  was  then  under  contemplation. 
This  letter  of  Bishop  Humphreys  in  reference  to  the  new  edition, 
which  was  being  discussed  in  1706,  is  so  instructive  that  the 
minutes  in  which  it  is  mentioned  deserve  recording  below  : 

"  28  November,  1706.  Part  of  a  Letter  from  the  Lord  Bp. 
of  Hereford  [Humphreys]  to  the  Ld.  Bishop  of  Landaffe  was 
read,  dated  Whitbourn,  Nov.  15  instant,  concerning  a  New 
Edition  of  the  Common  Prayer  in  Welsh,  of  which  there  have 
been  some  Advertisements  inserted  in  the  Public  Papers.  Herein 
his  Lordship  shews,  that  as  the  Folio  Edition  is  very  faulty  ;  so 
those  2  editions  of  Tho.  Jones,  are  neither  of  them  correct.  And 
adds  that  the  8vo  Edition  printed  at  Oxford  A.D.  1683  is  the 
fittest  pattern  for  the  Composer.  For  the  Singing  Psalms,  his 
Lordship  recommends  those  in  the  old  8vo  Bible  Printed  at  the 
Charge  of  Midleton  &:  Heylyn,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Reign  of 
King  Charles  I. ;  or  with  a  410  Common  Prayer  in  the  black 
English  Letter,  being  the  Church  Volume  before  the  Rebellion ; 
or  those  bound  with  the  Octavo  Bible  printed  at  London,  A.D. 
1677.  But  by  all  means  to  have  a  care  of  those  printed  by  Tho. 
Jones.  Lastly  his  Lordship  says  that  if  he  had  the  Oxford 
Edition  above  -  mentioned  he  would  correct  the  Erratas  found  in  it. 
This  letter  was  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee,  and  Mr.  Fox 
was  desired  to  procure  the  Oxford  Edition  printed  as  aforesaid." 


"  12  Dec.,  1706.  Mr.  Fox  reported  that  Mr.  Whitledge  had 
assured  him  that  the  Welsh  Common  Prayer  which  he  intends  to 
reprint,  is  that  in  8vo  by  the  late  Mr.  Gouge,  (whose  edition  as 
he  thinks,  was  the  pattern  for  that  printed  in  Oxford)  ;  that  he 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

will  take  care  to  gett  the  Edition  printed  at  Oxon:  that  Mr. 
Chancellor  Wynne  of  St.  Asaph  has  promised  to  fitt  the  work  for 
the  press,  &  a  Clergyman  is  to  come  on  purpose  from  Wales  to 
correct  the  sheets.  The  Secretary  was  order'd  to  certify  the  Ld. 
Bp.  of  Hereford  of  this." ' 

The  folio  edition  referred  to  as  "very  faulty"  is  that  of  1664. 
The  "  2  editions  of  Tbo.  Jones"  are  those  which  shall  be  presently 
mentioned.  The  "eld  8vo  Bible"  is  that  which  appeared  in 
1630.  The  "  4to  Common  Prayer  in  the  black  English  Letter" 
is  that  of  1634.  The  "8vo  by  the  late  Mr.  Gouge  "  is  the  Prayer 
Book  of  1677-78,  whi:h  is  mentioned  as  the  model  on  which  the 
highly -approved  1683  Oxford  Edition  was  based. 

The  first  of  Thomas  Jones'  editions  appeared  dated  1687, 
and  was  printed  in  London. 

"  Argraphwyd  yng  Haerludd  dros  Thomas  Jones.  1687.  Ag 
ar  werth  drosto  ef 

'Mr.   Charles  Beard,  Tan  Lun    y  Tri 
Adar   Duon  a'r  forforwyn  yn  Watling 


Gan  J 


Street. 


yn  Llundain." 


A  Mr.  John  Marsh,   Tan  Lun  y  Llew 
C6ch  yn  Cateaton-Street.  > 

The  year  of  its  actual  publication  was  1688.  It  is  a  small 
book,  and  has  affixed  to  it,  for  the  first  time  in  Welsh,  the 
Thirty -nine  Articles,  under  the  title: 

"Y  namyn  un  deugain  Erthyglau  Crefydd  Eglwys  Loegr, 
neu  Sylwedd  Ffydd  y  Protestaniaid  drwy  gyttuniad  yr  Arch- 
esgobion,  a'r  Esgobion  o'r  ddwy  Brew :  a'r  holl  wyr  Lien, 
(ar  eu  Cymmanfa  yng  Haerludd,  yn  y  bummed  flwyddyn  o 
Deyrnasiad  y  frenhines  Elizabeth,  yr  hon  oedd  y  flwyddyn  o 
oed  Jesu,  1562)  er  ymwared  oddiwrth  amryw  draws  amcan 
grefyddau,  ac  i  wastadlu  bodlonrhwydd  a  chyttundeb 
ynghylch  gwir  Grefydd. 
Argraphwyd  yn  fynuch  yn  saesonaeg,  drwy  Orchymmyn  y 

'Copied  from  Seren  Comer,  lonawr,  1904,  Rhif  I.,  Cyt.  xxv.,  p.  15,  from 
an  atticle  by  the  Rev.  T.  Shankland,  M.A.,  on  Di-ivygwyr  Cymi~u. 

133 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Brenhinoedd.     Ar  pryd  ymma  yn  Gymraeg,   o  Gyfieuthad 

Thomas  Jones,  1688. 

Ar  werth  Gan   Thomas  Jones,  a  chart  y  rhai  eraill  a  ivertho 

ei  Lyfrau  ef." 

"  Imprimatur,    Articuli    Ecclesiae   Anglicanae   in    Linguam 

Brittanicam  Conversi.     Hn   Maurice  Rms   in   Christo   P.D. 

Wilhelmo  Archiepiscopo.     Cant,  a  Sacris.      Feb.  16,  1687. "J 

According  to  Moses  Williams,2  Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd, 
had  translated  the  Articles  long  years  before,  and  they  were 
printed  separately  in  1664.  It  is  strange  that  the  three  editions 
of  the  Prayer  Book,  which  had  been  issued  since  that  date,  should 
have  appeared  without  them. 

The  second  edition  of  Thomas  Jones',  to  which  Bishop 
Humphreys  refers,  was  that  published  in  1700.  Both  of  his 
editions  had  Edmund  Prys'  Metrical  Psalms  appended.  The 
orthography  of  both  is  such  that,  were  they  otherwise  faultless, 
they  well  merit  the  strictures  put  upon  them  by  the  Bishop  of 
Hereford  in  the  warning  he  gave,  "  by  all  means  to  have  a  care 
of  those  printed  by  Thomas  Jones." 

(c)  OTHER  WORKS,  RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Wales  was  more 
enlightened  and  had  better  educational  facilities  than  is  generally 
supposed. 

John  Edwards  (Sion  Treredyn)  who  was  the  translator  of  the 
"  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity,"  states  that  the  clergy  of  that 
time  were  learned  men,  and  his  statement  is  amply  supported 
by  the  able  article  of  the  late  Mr.  Ivor  James  in  the  pages  of  the 
Traethodydd  (1886),  on  the  evidence  he  had  obtained  by  examin- 
ing the  records  of  the  two  Universities.  In  a  space  of  fifty  years, 
he  tells  us,  Wales  had  produced  not  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men  who  became  Doctors  of  Divinity,  or  attained  Fellowships. 
This  does  not  exhaust  the  list  of  able  men,  for  outside  the  ranks 

5  Llyfr.  y  Cymry  has,  on  p.  245,  no  doubt  owing  to  a  printer's  error, 
wrongly  given  this  date  as  1667.  2  Cofrhestr,  rhif  5, 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

of  Doctors  and  Fellows  were  such  men  as  Vicar  Prichard,  Arch- 
deacon Edmund  Prys,  and  many  more.  It  \vas  no  uncommon 
thing  for  Welshmen  to  be  raised  to  the  episcopal  bench,  both  in 
their  own  country  and  outside  its  borders.  The  same  writer 
draws  attention  to  the  high  standard  of  learning  and  culture 
amongst  the  gentry  of  Wales.  He  quotes  the  author  of  Gemitus 
Eccksiae,  who  states  :  "  Mae  y  boneddigion  yn  wyr  o  wybodaeth, 
crefydd,  a  dygiad  i  fyny,  y  rhan  fwyaf  o  honynt  wedi  cael  eu 
haddysg  yn  ysgolion  a  phrifysgolion  goreu  y  wlad  hon."  The 
population  of  Wales,  at  the  time,  could  hardly  have  exceeded  a 
quarter  of  a  million,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Mr.  James 
states  that  there  were  more  Grammar  Schools,  Ysgolion  Canol- 
raddol  he  calls  them,  for  the  sake  of  emphasising  his  point,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  century  in  Wales  than  existed  at  the  time  he 
penned  his  article.  Moreover,  these  schools  were  planted  in 
populous  centres ;  were,  as  far  as  possible,  free  and  open  to 
the  poorest ;  and  must  have  been  efficient,  judging  from  the 
men  they  produced,  who  reached  the  highest  offices  in  Church 
and  State. 

The  masses  availed  themselves  of  the  private  schools,  as  the 
author  of  Gemitus  Ecclesiae  informs  us :  "  Ac  mae  y  bobl  yn 
gyffredin  yn  gofalu  am  ddwyn  eu  plant  i  fyny  mewn  ysgolion 
preifat," '  Many  of  these  schools  were  kept  by  the  clergy.  It 
was  mentioned,  for  instance,  in  a  previous  page,  how  Jeremy 
Taylor  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  a  school  at  Golden  Grove. 
Dr.  David  Lloyd,  at  Ruthin,  is  another  example.  And  there  are 
instances  found  in  the  Alumni  Oxonienses  where  it  forms  part  of 
the  record  of  a  Welsh  clergyman,  "  that  he  also  kept  school  there." 
There  was  not  that  entire  neglect  of  education  which  some  have 
supposed.  The  great  men  of  the  first  half  of  the  century  were 
numerous,  and  it  is  significant  that  many  of  them  on  their  entry 
to  the  Universities  were  styled  "  plebeians."  One  is  not  forgetting 
the  considerable  number  of  Welshmen  who  went  to  English 
public  schools,  but  it  is  necessary  to  account  for  the  large  number 

1  Y  Traethodyddt   1886,  p.   287. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

who  had  not  that  advantage,  but  who,  nevertheless,  proceeded  to 

the  Universities  and  attained  distinction.     All  this  applies  to  the 

first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.     But  there  came  a  change. 

When  Thomas  Gouge  came  to  Wales  in  1671-2,  he  found  the 

great  bulk  of  the  people  ignorant,  and  unable  to  read   or  write. 

We  find  the  explanation  for  the  change  in  the  Civil  Wars,  the 

effect  of  which,    in  brief,   was  to  sweep  away  the  clergy  and  the 

gentry,  who,    a  generation  earlier,  had    been   the   promoters  of 

education.      Both   these    classes    were    Royalist,    and    suffered 

accordingly.     The  majority  of  the  gentry  either  fell  in  battle,  or 

had  their  estates  confiscated.     "  The  Act  for  the  Propagation  of 

the  Gospel "  explains  the  disappearance  of  most  of  the  clergy. 

As  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  no  episcopal  ordination  took  place 

in   Wales   between    1642    and    i66o.r      By    1653,    416   clergy, 

graduates  of  the  Universities,  had   been  dispossessed,2  and  their 

place  taken  by  150  preachers,  itinerant  and  otherwise.     When  it 

is  borne  in  mind  that  the  number  of  Welsh  parishes  was  nearly  a 

thousand,  and   that  of  the   above    150   comparatively  few  were 

learned  men,  as  Calamy  bears  witness,  for  in  the  list  of  ministers 

ejected  at  the  Restoration,  he  is  only  able  to  muster  eight  who 

were  graduates,  and  has  to  admit  that  many  of  them  were  weavers, 

ploughmen,  skinners,  husbandmen,  3  &c.,  it  is  not  surprising  that 

the   education   of  the   country  should  have  suffered.     Vavasor 

Powell    states4    that   24   out  of   32  nominees   to  livings  by  the 

Commissioners  in  N.  Wales  were  University  men.     This  is  in 

direct  variance  with  Calamy's  list  of  ejected  ministers,  or  it  proves 

that  comparatively   few  were  disturbed  at  the   Restoration.     If 

Wales  was  so  steeped  in  ignorance,  the  Commonwealth  policy,  in 

its  immediate  effect,  did  not  tend  to  decrease  it.     Ignorance  there 

rndoubtedly  was  in  Wales  as  elsewhere.     Our  present  task  is  to 

deal  with  the  writings  of  a  body  of  men  who  realised  this,  and 

1  Y  Tracthodydd,  p.  300.  3  ibid,  p.  285.  This  number  includes  those 
ejected  under  the  "Act,"  and  those  whose  livings  had  been  sequestered  before 
it  came  into  operation  in  1650.  3  Calamy's  Noncon.  Memor.,  iii.  pp.  477-528. 
4  CymdeUhas  Lien  Cymru's  "  Act  for  t/ic  Propagation^  &v.,"  Cardiff,  1908, 
P-5- 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

who  tried  by  most  unselfish  and  untiring  efforts  to  dispel  the  dark- 
ness through  the  enlightening  influences  of  religion  and  education. 

Before  their  works  are  recorded,  however,  it  is  necessary  to 
notice  a  few  religious  writings  which  appeared  in  the  first  half  of 
the  century. 

In  1600  was  published  "  Darmerth,  neu  Arlwy  Gweddi,  a 
ddychymygwyd  er  mawr  dderchafiad  Duwioldeb,  ac  i  chwanegu 
Gwybodaeth  ac  A \vydd  yr  annysgedig  ewyllysgar  i  iawn  wasan- 
aethuV  gwir  Dduw.  Gan  Robert  Holland,  gweinidog  gair  Duw, 
a  Pherson  Llanddeferowg,  yn  Sir  Gaerfyrcldin."  Oxford,  4to. 

Robert  Holland  was  a  graduate  of  Magdalen  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  proceeded  B.A.  irj  1577-8  and  M.A.  in 
1 58 1.1  He  afterwards  became  Rector  of  Prendergast,  in  Pem- 
brokeshire. He  was  the  author  of  a  work  published  in  1594, 
entitled,  The  Ho  lie  Historic  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  which  is  a 
work  of  excessive  rarity,  and  has  been  erroneously  ascribed  to 
Henry  Holland.  He  dedicated  this  work  "  to  the  right  worship- 
ful Mistres  Ann  Philips  of  Picton,''  and  on  its  title-page  describes 
himself  as  "  Minister  of  the  Church  of  Prendergast."  It  is  a 
poetical  work  relating  "  Jesus  Christ's  nativitie,  life,  actes,  miracles, 
doctrine,  death,  passion,  resurrection,  and  ascension.  Gathered 
into  English  meeter,  and  published  to  withdraw  vaine  wits  from 
all  unsaverie  and  wicked  rimes  and  fables,  to  some  love  and 
liking  of  spirituall  songs  and  holy  Scriptures."  He  also  produced 
other  works  in  Welsh,  the  best  known  of  which  is  that  entitled 
"  Dau  Gymro  yn  taring  yn  Bell  o'u  Gwlad,"  which  was  printed  by 
Stephen  Hughes  with  "  Canwyll  y  Cymru  "  in  the  1681  edition 
of  that  work.  He  translated  a  work  of  William  Perkins  (1558- 
1602)  which  is  considered  one  of  the  best  books  in  the  language 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Robert  Holland  entitled  it  "  Agoriad  byrr 
ar  Weddi'r  Arglwydd,"  and  a  second  edition  of  it  appeared  as  late 
as  1677,  published  through  the  efforts  of  Stephen  Hughes.  The 
author  of  the  original,  William  Perkins,  was  a  Warwickshire  man, 
who  was  educated  at  Cambridge  and  afterwards  had  charge  of 
lAth  i  Cantab  ;  (Cooper),  vol.  ii.  p.  174. 

137 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

St.  Andrew's  Church  in  that  city.  His  puritanism,  however, 
brought  him  into  collision  with  the  authorities,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  retire.  He  was  a  ready  writer,  and  some  of  his  works  were 
translated  into  French  and  Spanish,  besides  this  into  Welsh. 

In  1607,  "  Yr  Athrawiaeth  am  Weddi.  Gan  John  Prideaux, 
Esgob  Caerwrangon,"  was  published.  It  is  not  clear  who  trans- 
lated this  work  of  Bishop  Prideaux.1  It  has  been  ascribed  to 
Rowland  Vaughan,  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  support  it,  although 
the  editor  of  the  1715  edition,  which  appeared  under  the  title 
"  Euchologia,  neu  yr  Athrawiaeth  o  arferol  Weddi,"  attributed  it 
to  him.2 

At  least  nine  Welsh  books  were  published  by  Roman  Catholic 
writers  on  the  Continent  between  1567  and  1670,  two  of  which 
were  printed  at  Milan,  three  at  Paris,  one  at  Rouen,  two  at  Liege, 
and  one,  probably,  at  St  Omer.  The  well-known  Welsh  Grammar, 
entitled  Dosparth  Byrr,  by  Dr.  Gruffydd  Roberts,  had  appeared 
in  1567,  published  at  Milan;  Athraiviaeth  Gristnogavl,  in  the 
same  year,  also  printed  at  Milan ;  and  Y  Drych  Cristnogavl,  in 
1585,  the  work  of  Dr.  Roger  Smyth,  printed  at  Rouen.3 

Dr.  Roger  Smyth  (1546-1625),  who  was  a  native  of  St. 
Asaph,  and  was  educated  on  the  Continent,  at  the  University  of 
Douay  and  at  the  English  College,  at  Rome,  was  one  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  writers  who  contributed  to  Welsh  literature  in 
this  century  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth.  He  is 
mentioned  as  being  at  Rome  in  1579,*  and  in  1582  he  had  come 
to  Rouen  to  the  order  of  Bridgettine  nuns,  formerly  of  Sion,  in 
England,  and  remained  with  them  until  their  removal  to  Lisbon 
in  1594.  In  1595  he  crossed  over  to  England,  but  was  caught 
and  thrown  into  Newgate  Prison,  whence  he  escaped,  it  is  thought 
by  bribery,  s  In  1596  he  was  again  in  Paris,  where  he  and  others 

'John  Prideaux  (1578-  1650)  was  a  distinguished  Oxford  scholar,  who 
became  Rector  of  Exeter  College  and  King's  Professor  of  Divinity.  In  1641 
he  was  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Woicester.  The  book  here  translated  was 
his  "  Euchologia,  or  Doctrine  of  Practical  Prayer.''  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  pp. 
130-131.  2  Llyfr.  y  Cywry,  p.  305.  3  Cymmrodor.  Trans.,  1897-8,  p.  10. 
4 Owen's  Running  Register,  p.  19  >  Cymmrodor.  Trans.,  1901  -04,  pp.  109- 
114. 

'3* 


attempted  to  establish  an  English  College  for  the  education  of 
priests,  in  1598,  which  project,  however,  did  not  succeed.  He 
remained  in  Paris  until  his  death,  in  1625,  and  during  his  stay 
there,  he  produced,  in  1609,  a  work  entitled  "Crynodeb  o 
Addysc  Cristnogavl,  a  Dosparth  Catholic  ar  ddeuddeg  pvnc  y 
Phydd  a  elvir  yn  Gredo,  hefyd  ar  vveddi  yr  Arglvydd,  sef  y  Fader 
ar  Gyfarchiad  yr  Angel,  a  elvvir  Ave  Maria,  yn  ddivveddaf  ar  y 
Deg  gair  Deddf  a  elvvir  y  deg  gorchymyn.  Gvvedi  i  gyfieithu  o'r 
Lladin  i'r  Gymeraeg,  drvvy  ddyfal  astudiaeth  a  llafur  D[octor] 
Rosier  Smith  o  dref  Llan  Elvvy,  Athraw  o  Theologyddiaeth,  megis 
ymddiddan  ne  ddialogyddiaeth  rhvvng  y  discibil  a'r  athraw." 
Pans,  1 609. 

Mr  J.  H.  Davies  states  that  a  good  copy  of  this  work  exists 
at  Sherburn.1 

It  was,  as  the  author  mentions  in  the  title-page,  a  translation 
fiom  the  Latin,  and  was  published  afterwards  in  an  enlarged  form 
under  the  title  "  Opus  Catechisticum  D.  Petri  Canisii,  Theologi 
Ex  Societate  Jesu,  sef  yw  :  Svm  ne  grynodebo  adysc  Gristnogavl,  a 
dosparth  Catholic,  ar  holl  bvnciau'r Phydd." 

A  copy  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum.  It  was 
a  compendium  of  religious  doctrine  by  a  learned  Jesuit.  In  it 
Smyth  follows  the  orthography  of  Dr.  Gruffydd  Roberts.  Two 
subsequent  editions  of  the  work  appeared,  one  in  1657,  and 
another  in  1683.  (See  Llyjryddiaeth  y  Cymry  under  those  dates). 

Another  work  translated  by  Dr.  Smyth  was  published  in 
Paris  in  1615,  and  entitled:  "Theater  Du  Mond  sef  iw  Gorsedd 
y  Byd  lie  i  gellir  gweled  trueni  a  Llaseni  Dyn  o  ran  y  Corph  ai 
Odidawgnvydd  o  ran  yr  Enaid  ;  a  Scrifenwyd  gynt  yn  y  Ffrangaeg, 
ag  a  gyfieithwyd  ir  Gymraeg  drwy  lafur  Rosier  Smyth  o  Dref  Lan 
Elwy  Athraw  o  Theologyddiaeth.  Psalm  48."  [This  should  be 
Ps.  49,  the  last  verse  of  which  is  quoted  in  Latin  and  Welsh.] 

The  orthography  of  Dr.  Gruffydd  Roberts  is  not  used  in  this 
book,  which  is  a  translation  from  the  French  of  Peter  Boaystuan.2 

The  above  book  was  translated  into  English  twenty -eight 
1  Cymmrodor  Trans:  1897-8  p.  10.  2  ibid,  p,  12. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

years  afterwards,  and  also  into  Spanish.  All  Roger  Smyth's 
printed  works  were  translations,  and  were  religious  works,  written 
from  a  Roman  Catholic  standpoint,  and  translated  into  Welsh  in 
the  hope  of  impressing  his  fellow-countrymen.  Considering  that 
he  spent  most  of  his  time  abroad,  he  wrote  good,  vigorous  Welsh. 
When  he  translated  any  passages  from  the  poetical  books  of  the 
Bible,  he  did  so  in  verse,  e.g.,  Job  x.  9,  "  Cofia,  attolwg,  mai  fel 
clai  y  gwnaethost  fi  ;  ac  a  ddygi  di  fi  i'r  pridd  drachefn  ?  "  is  thus 

versified  : 

Cofia  arglvydd  fal  im  gvnaethost  yn  vanddyn 

Fal  y  llestrvr  y  lestro'r  pryduyn 

Yr  hvn  all  i  ddinistrio  ai  droi  yn  lludv 

A  chofia  fal  i'm  phyrfiaist  o'run  ddelv  * 

As  his  books  were  printed  in  Paris,  and  there  is  no  w  in  the 
French  alphabet,  he  had  to  resort  to  the  use  ~of  two  z>'s  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  that  letter. 

In  the  "  Records  of  the  English  Catholics  under  the  Penal 
Laws  "  occurs  a  list  of  Englishmen  who  matriculated  at  Douay 
before  1621,  in  which  Roger  Smyth's  name  is  found  amongst  the 
Angli  pauperes.  He  is  there  styled  Rogerius  Smithe  (vol.  i., 
p.  277).  He  was  also  a  signatory  to  "  The  Copye  of  a  supplica- 
tion made  for  poor  Syon,"  where  his  name  is  placed  first — Doctor 
Smythy  (p.  362  of  the  same  work).  This  was  copied  from  a 
Document  in  the  Public  Record  Office,  London,  Dom.  Eliz.  vol. 
146  n  114. 

Roger  Smyth  was  never  ordained  priest  in  the  Church  of 
Rome.2 

A  difference  arose  between  him  and  Robert  Parsons,  the 
Jesuit,  which  is  mentioned  in  a  letter  written  by  an  English  spy 
to  Cecil  in  Oct.,  1601,  as  follows  :  "  Dr.  Roger  Smith,  about  55, 
of  no  great  reach,  not  fit  to  be  employed  in  matters  of  State,  as 
Parsons  confesseth,  because  he  could  not  keep  Parsons'  counsels 
in  certain  causes  which  he  imparted  to  him."3  It  is  conjectured 
that  Parsons  may  have  been  angry  with  Smyth  for  his  republican 
and  nationalist  views,  for  he  neither  favoured  Philip  of  Spain  in 
1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  90.  2  Trans,  of  Cymmrod.  Soc.  1901-04,  p.  113. 
3  ibid,  p.  114. 

I40 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

his  attempts  to  gain  the  English  crown,  nor  the  accession  of  James 
of  Scotland.  In  fact,  he  was  and- Spanish  and  and- English. 
"  What  he  really  wanted  was  a  republican  system  which  would 
give  to  Wales  a  full  measure  of  internal  independence,"1  very 
similar  to  that  enjoyed  by  the  Italian  states. 

Lewis  Owen,  in  the  Running  Register,  which  was  published 
in  1626,  states  that  Smyth  "  died  last  year  in  Paris,"  which  gives 
1625  as  the  year  of  his  death,  in  his  7Qth  year. 

Another  Roman  Catholic  writer  of  distinction  was  Father 
John  Salisbury  (1572-1625),  a  native  of  Merionethshire,  and 
probably  a  son  of  the  Rug  branch  of  the  Salisbury  family.2  He 
was  educated  at  the  Jesuits'  College  of  St.  Alban's,  Valladolid, 
Spain,  which  he  entered  on  June  22nd,  1595.  He  was  ordained 
priest  on  Nov.  2ist,  1600,  sent  to  England  in  1603,  and  in  1605 
he  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  a  "  missioner  "  in  North  Wales. 
In  1615  he  became  the  Superior  of  North  and  South  Wales 
District,  taking  up  his  residence  at  Raglan  Castle.  In  1622  he 
became  Superior  of  the  College  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  which  he 
had  founded.  He  was  appointed  Procurator  of  the  English 
Province  to  Rome,  but  he  died  while  preparing  for  his  journey 
thither  in  1625.  He  translated  and  published  in  1618  a  work 
entitled  "  Eglurhad  Helaeth-laivn  o'r  Athrawiaeth  Gristnogawl. 
A  gyfansodhwyd  y  tro  cyntaf  yn  Italaeg  trwy  waith  yr  Ardherch- 
occaf  a'r  Hybarchaf  Cardinal  Bellarmin."  This  was  a  Catechism 
on  Christian  Doctrine,  and  the  translation  is  written  in  good 
idiomatic  Welsh.  The  work  was  printed  at  the  press  of  St.  Omer's 
College,  France.  Salisbury  is  said  to  have  composed  other 
devotional  works,  but  they  were  not  published. 

A  copy  of  Eglurhad  Helacth- lawn  exists  at  the  British 
Museum. 

Two  other  Roman  Catholic  works  in  Welsh,  published  in 
this  century  are  Drych  Cydwybod,  printed  at  Liege,  in  i66i3;  and 
Allwydd  Paradwys,  printed  at  Liege  in  1670.  A  copy  of  this  is 

1  Trans,  of  Cymmrod.  Soc.,    1901-04,   p.    114.     ~  D.N.B.      3  This  date  is 
taken  from  Moses  Williams'  Cofrestr* 

141 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

also  to  be  found  at  the  British  Museum.  The  former  is  an 
instruction  on  Confession;  the  latter  a  book  of  Prayers,  Devotions, 
Counsels,  and  religious  Doctrine,  collected  from  various  devo- 
tional books.  The  Welsh  and  Latin  appear  in  parallel  columns, 
and  the  author  I.  H.  is  identified  as  Father  John  Hughes  (or 
John  Hugh  Owen,  as  he  was  previously  known),  a  native  of 
Anglesey,  who,  as  might  be  expected,  wrote  good  idiomatic 
Welsh,  as  did  John  Salisbury.  This  was  that  same  Father  John 
Hughes  (1615-1686),  who  published  in  1684,  two  years  before 
his  death,  Hugh  Owen's  translation  of  the  Imitatio  Christi  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  which  will  be  considered  later. 

A  writer  who  has  received  well -deserved  praise  for  the  purity 
and  flexibility  of  his  language  is  Edward  James,  the.  translator 
of  the  Book  of  Homilies.  He  published  the  work,  which  is 
generally  known  as  Llyfr  yr  ffomiliau,  in  1606.  Its  full  title 
reads : 

"  Pregethau  a  osodwyd  allan  trwy  awdurdod,  i'w  darllein 
ymhob  Eglwys  blwyf  a  phob  capel  er  adailadaeth  i'r  bobl 
annyscedig.  Gwedi  eu  troi  i'r  iaith  Gymeraeg,  dnvy  waith 
Edward  lames." 

The  author  of  Llyfryddiaeth  y  Cymry  bestows  upon  the  work 
the  following  well-merited  eulogy:  "Y  mae  ei  gyfieithiad  o'r 
Homiliau  yn  gyfieithiad  rhagorol  dros  ben.  ac  yn  teilyngu  sylw, 
pe  na  bai  ond  er  mwyn  ei  briodwedd  wir  Gymreig  yn  unig.  A 
mae  lie  i  farnu,  gyda  chryn  ddilysrwydd,  wrth  ambell  ymadrodd, 
ffurf  rhai  geiriau,  ac  ychydig  neillduoldeb  yn  yr  ieithwedd,  mae 
gwr  o'r  Deheudir  ydoedd  y  cyfieithydd  clodwiw.  Saif  Edward 
James  ar  orsaf  uchel  fel  gwasanaethwr  ei  gyd-genedl,  yn  ymyl 
Gwilym  Salsbri,  yr  Esgob  Morgan,  a'r  Esgob  Parri  :  ac  fel 
ysgrifenwr  Cymraeg  dilediaith,  nid  yw  yn  ol  i  un  o  honynt.'  x 

The  following  quotation  from  his  Introduction  will  serve  the 
double  purpose  of  giving  an  epitomised  history  of  the  Homilies 
and  also  an  example  of  the  author's  pregnant  style  :  "  Am  hynny, 
pan  ystyriodd  y  brenin  ieuangc  duwiol  Edward  VI.  pa  mor  anaml 

1  Llyjr.  y  Cymry ,  p.  80. 
142 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

oedd  gwir  bregethwyr  gair  Duw  o  fewn  ei  deyrnas  ef,  y  rhai  a 
fedrai  addysgu'r  bobl  i  gredu  yn  Nu\v,  i  alw  arno,  ac  i  gadw  ei 
orchymynion  sanctaidd  ef,  efe  a  barodd  wrth  gyngor  ei  gyngoriaid 
i  wyr  duwiol  dysgedig,  cyfarwydd  yngair  Daw,  gynnull  a  sgrifennu 
yr  Homiliau  duwiol  yma,  allan  o'r  Ysgrythyrau  sanctaidd ;  unig 
ffynnon  pob  doethineb  j  unig  ymborth  yr  eneidiau  ;  unig  dywysog 
ac  arweinydd,  a  rhinwedd,  a  duwioldeb ;  unig  ddiwreiddydd  pob 
chwyn  gwenwynig ;  unig  wrthladdydd  pob  anwybodaeth  ;  ac  unig 
gyferbyn  yn  erbyn  pob  athrawiaeth  dwyllodrus,  yr  hon  sydd  yn 
tywys  i  ofer-goel,  traws-opiniynau,  a  delw-addoliad.  Yn  yr 
Homiliau  hyncynhwysir  y  prif  byngciau  o'n  ffydd  ni,  ac  o'n  dyled 
tu  ag  at  Dduw  a;n  cymmydogion ;  fel  y  gallai  yr  Offeiriaid  a'r 
Curadiaid  annysgedig,  y  rhai  ni  fedrant  yn  amgen  etto,  wrth 
adrodd,  datgan,  a  darllain  yr  Homiliau  hyn,  bregethu  i'w  pobl 
wir  athrawiaeth ;  ac  fel  y  gallai  pawb  o'r  bobl  wrth  wrando, 
ddysgu'n  union  ac  yn  iawn  anrhydeddu  ac  addoli  yr  Hollalluog 
Dduw,  a'i  wasanaethu  yn  ddiwyd." 

A  second  edition  of  Llyfr  yr  Homiliau  was  published  in 
1817,  and  a  third  edited  by  the  Rev.  Morris  Williams  (Nicander), 
in  1847,  printed  at  Bala.  The  former  has  kept  very  closely  to 
the  original  edition  of  1606,  but  the  latter  varies  widely  and 
almost  seems  to  be  a  new  translation  of  the  Homilies. 

Edward  James'  translation  is  one  of  the  Welsh  classics  and  is 
worthy  of  comparison  with  the  work  of  Maurice  Kyffin,  Edmund 
Prys,  and  Dr.  Davies  of  Mallwyd.  The  record  of  the  author 
given  in  the  Alumni  Oxonienses  is  as  follows :  "  Edward  James, 
of  co.  Glamorgan,  pleb.,  St.  Edmund's  Hall,  1585-6,  aged  16. 
B. A.  from  Jesus  College,  1589;  M.A.,  1592;  perhaps  Vicar  of 
'Caerleon,  Monmouthshire,  1596;  Prebendary  in  the  Collegiate 
Church  of  Brecon,  1 598  ;  Rector  of  Llangattock,  Monmouth- 
shire, 1598;  Vicar  of  Cadoxton-juxta-Neath,  1603;  Chancellor 
of  Llandaff,  1606."  The  record  shows  that  Gwilym  Lleyn  was 
correct  when  he  judged  from  his  language  "mae  gwr  o'r  Deheudir 
ydoedd."  He  died  in  1610. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  next  work  of  note  is  Rowland  Vailghan's  translation 
of  "The  Practice  of  Piety."  Its  full  title  is  as  follows:  Yr  Ymarfer 
o  Dduwioldeb  :  yn  cyfar-wyddo  dyn  i  ryngu  bodd  Duw  :  Yr  hwn 
lyfr  a  osodwyd  allan  yn  saeson-asc  o  waith  y  gwir  barchedig  Dad 
Lewis  Escob  Bangor,  ac  a  gylieithwyd  yn  gamber-aec  o  waith 
Row.  Vaughan  o  Gaergai  o  sir  Feirion  wr  bonheddig.  Est  volnisse 
satis.  Printiedig  gan  Felix  Kyngston  tros  Robert  Allot,  ac  ydynt 
iw  cael  tan  lun  yr  Arth,  ym  monwent  St.  Paul  yn  Llundain. 
1630." 

Bishop  Lewis  Bayly's  book,  "  The  Practice  of  Piety,  Direct- 
ing a  Christian  man  how  to  walk,  that  he  may  please  God,"  was 
first  published  in  1612,  or  at  least,  that  is  the  date  of  its  first  entry 
at  Stationers'  Hall.  Another  edition  appeared  in  that  same  year, 
and  the  third  edition  in  1613.  This  is  the  edition  Rowland 
Vaughan  translated,1  and  Thomas  Jones,  of  Oswestry,  states  that 
the  Welsh  translation  was  ready  in  1620.  It  is  thought  its 
publication  was  delayed  owing  to  the  appearance  of  Bishop  Parry's 
Bible  in  that  year.  It  was  put  in  the  press  early  in  1629,  and 
appeared  in  1630.  The  book  is  prefaced  with  an  address  by  the 
author,  "  Lewis  Bayly,  At  yr  uchel  alluocaf  Dywysog,  Charles, 
Tywysog  Cymbru."  There  is  also  an  address  by  the  translator, 
"  I'r  annwyl  Urddasol  Wraig,  Margred,  unig  etifeddes  Syr  John 
Lloyd,  Marchog  a  Sersiant  o'r  gyfraith,  a  chywely  John  Lloyd  o 
Riwaedog  Esq.  gras  a  thangneddyf  yn  y  byd  hwn,  a  gorfoledd 
tragwyddol  yn  y  byd  a  ddaw  a  ddeisyf,  R.  V." 

In  his  address  to  the  reader,  which  follows,  the  translator 
rebukes  those  Welsh  people  who,  in  his  age,  belittled  their  own 
language  and  neglected  the  education  of  their  children  :  "  Mwyaf 
peth  sydd  yn  dyfod  yn  erbyn  ein  hiaith  ni  ydyw,  anhawsed  gan  y 
cymru  roddi  eu  plant  i  ddyscu,  fel  y  mae'n  well  gan  lawer  dyn 
fod  ei  etifedd  yn  fuwch  yn  ei  fyw,  na  threulio  gwerth  buwch  i 
ddyscu  iddo  ddarllain.  .  .  .  Edrych  a  ddichon  y  llyfr  hwn  roddi 
meddyginiaeth  i'th  enaid,  neu  lyfrau  eraill  oi  gyffelyb  :  megis  y 

'For  this  information   the   writer  is    indebted    to    the    Rev.    Thomas 
Shankland, 

144 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

llyfr  odiaethol  a  gyfenwir  Ihvybr  hyffordd  fr  nefoedd  o  gyfieithiad 
y  lien  dyscedig  am  hanwyl  athro  Mr.  Ro.  lloyd  Ficar  y  waen,  neu 
bregeth  am  edifeirwch  o  waith  yr  un  rhyw  gymreugydd  rhagorol 
....  os  cei  di  ddaioni  oddiwrth  y  llyfr  hwn,  meddwl  yn  dy  weddi 
am  un  a  fydd  yn  rhwym  i  wneuthur  iw  iaith  a'i  wlad  y  gwasanaeth 
a'r  vfudd-dod  gorau  ar  a  fedro,  tra  byddo  ei  enw  Row  :  Vaughan." 
Di  gwyn  yw  gennif  yn  y  dcg  isilh  her 

Ddwyn  y  boen  yn  hirfaith 
Os  byddi  was  wybydd-iaith 
Yn  fwyn  gyd-ddwyn  am  gwaith. 

R.  V. 

This  introductory  letter  is  interesting  in  that  it  expresses  the 
mind  of  the  author  concerning  his  own  language,  his  contempt  of 
those  who  despised  it,  and  his  noble  spiritual  ideals  for  his 
countrymen. 

The  other  editions  of  this  work  are  : 

Second  edition,  1656,  "  Yr  ail  Impressiwn  gwedi  i  correctio 
ai  amendio  drwyddo.  Printiedig  gan  Sarah  Griffin  tros  Philip 
Chetwind  :  An.  Dom.  1656." 

Stephen  Hughes  was  instrumental  in  publishing  this. 

Third  edition,  1675.  "Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Tho. 
Dawks  dros  Ph.  Chetwin  ac  a  werthir  dan  lun  y  tri  Bibl  gyferbyn 
a'r  Royal  Exchange,  1675."  This  is  the  edition  published 
through  the  efforts  of  Thomas  Gouge,  and  is  the  one  used  by  all 
subsequent  editors.  To  it  is  affixed  an  address  entitled 
"  Diwygiwr  y  preintwasc  at  y  darllenydd  "  by  Charles  Edwards, 
who  revised  the  proofs  for  Mr.  Gouge.  He  states  that  he  found 
it  necessary  to  alter  many  things  in  the  book,  because  the  mean- 
ing was  often  obscure  and  failed  to  convey  the  original.  At  the 
same  time  he  expresses  his  veneration  for  Rowland  Vaughan  and 
his  work. 

The  fourth  edition  was  published  by  Thomas  Jones,  of 
Shrewsbury,  in  1685.  "  y  pedwerydd  argraffiad  yn  Gymraeg, 
wedi  gwellau  llawer  o  gam  yspeiliadau  oedd  yn  yr  Argraphiadau 
eraill." 

The  Cardiff  Catalogue  mentions  a  fifth  edition,  which 
appeared  in  this  century,  and  dates  it  c.i69o. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  author  of  the  original,  Dr.  Lewis  Bayly,  was  a  Car- 
marthen man,  and  one  of  the  most  noted  orators  of  this  century. 
He  was  educated  at  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  his  celebrity  as 
a  preacher  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  James  I.,  who  made  him 
his  chaplain,  he  having  previously  been  chaplain  to  Prince  Henry, 
who  predeceased  the  King.  In  1611,  he  was  Vicar  of  Evesham, 
in  Worcestershire,  from  1 6 1  o  - 1 6  he  was  Treasurer  of  St.  Paul's, 
holding  the  benefice  of  St.  Matthew's,  Friday  Street,  from  1612-16. 
In  the  latter  year,  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Rowlands,  the  King 
gave  him  the  bishopric  of  Bangor,  in  which  diocese  he  also  held 
the  Archdeaconry  of  Anglesey,  1616,  and  several  livings  in 
commendam. I  His  most  celebrated  treatise  The  Practice  of  Piety 
took  hold  of  the  religious  imagination  of  many  countries,  it  was 
even  translated  into  the  Indian  tongue.  It  is  a  book  which  is 
said  to  have  had  a  profound  influence  upon  John  Bunyan.  In 
England  it  went  through  countless  editions  in  the  lyth  and  i8th 
centuries,  and  in  Wales,  five  during  the  i7th  century,  as  seen 
above.  In  1625  it  was  translated  into  French,  and  several 
editions  were  issued,  so  that  a  French  writer,  John  D'Espagne, 
complained  in  1656  that  the  French  people  looked  upon  it  as 
equal  in  authority  with  the  Bible.3 

Bishop  Bayly  died  in  1632,  and  was  buried  in  Bangor 
Cathedral. 

The  other  works  of  Rowland  Vaughan  are  also  translations. 
He  was  often  known  as  "  Rowland  Vaughan  y  Cyfieithydd."  In 
1658  he  published  "Prifannau  Crefydd  Gristnogawl  A  Llwybraidd 
fodd  byrr  or  Athrawiaeth  o  honi.  O  waith  lago  Usher  Escob 
Armagh  ....  2  Tim.  1.13  [quoted]  .  .  .  Llundain.  Argraph- 
edig  gan  Joa.  Streater,  tros  Philip  Chetwinde,  1658." 

This  was  the  Catechism  of  Dr.  Usher,  Archbishop  of 
Armagh,3  the  author  of  the  Primordia. 

In   the   same  year  he   published    "  Yr  arfer    o   Weddi   yr 

T  Alumni  Oxonienses.  See  also  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  34,  35. 
2  Atken  ;  Oxon  ;  i.,  p.  486.  *Ath:  Oxon;  ii.  p.  22 

146 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Arglwydd  a  amddiffynir  yn  erbyn  Dadleuon  y  newyddiaid  o'r 
amseroedd  yma.  Gan  loan  Despagne.  1652."  (John  Despagne 
was  a  French  writer,  who  was  a  preacher  at  Somerset  House 
Chapel  about  this  time).  Also  : 

"  Prifannav  Sanctaidd  neu  Lawlyfr  O  Weddiau  a  wnaethpwyd, 
yn  dair  Rhan :  I.  Seliau  Crefydd  Gristianogawl  ac  Athrawiaeth 
Ecchvys  Frydain  fawr,  ar  Rhagoriaeth  rhyngddi  ar  vn  o  Rufain 
yr  awrhon,  ar  rhai  newydd  ad^yweirio  neu  ddisbaddu.  n.  Beun- 
yddol  ac  wythnosawl  ffurfoedd  o  weddiau,  a  nerthwyd  ar  Scrythyrau 
glan,  Myfyrdodau,  a  Rheolau,  i  gadw  yr  enaid  oddiwrth  y  llwybr 
cyncfin  o  bedwd,  ac  i'w  ddwyn  ym-mlaen  i  farweiddio  ei  yrfa.  ill. 
Saith  o  orchymynnion  i'r  cydwybod,  gan  draddodi  (onid  yw  y 
corph  cyfan)  yr  aelodau  pennaf  o  ddefinyddiaeth,  yr  hon  yw'r 
gelfyddyd  nid  o  ymddadleu  ond  o  fyw  yn  dda.  O  waith  yr 
Anrhydeddus  Athro  William  Brough  Dr.  o  ddefinyddiaeth,  a 
Deon  diweddar  o  Gwaerloiw.  Y  trydydd  argraphiad  yn  Saesonaeg 
ar  cyntaf  yn  gamberaeg  o  Gyfieithiad  Row:  Vaughan,  Esq.  .  .  . 
Peth  mawr  yw  bod  yn  Gristion  nid  i  ymddangos.  Caer  Ludd. 
Printiedig  gan  Sara  Griffin,  tros  Philip  Clietwinde  o'r  heol  hynaf, 
1658."  Then  follows  a  dedication :  "  I'r  ardderchawg  hen 
Fryttwn  William  Salesburi  o  Fachenbyd  es  [^]  llawenydd  cyflawn^  a 
gorfoledd  tragywyddol  iw  dymuniad  .  R.  V.,"  and  some  Latin 
verses  commendatory  to  William  Salesbuii,  who  had  helped 
Rowland  Vaughan  to  defray  the  expenses  of  publication,  by  I.  S., 
and  G.  S.,  both  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  and  Edmondus  Meyricke^ 
a  Scholar  of  that  college  ;  also,  "  Mawl  ir  llyfr  ar  cyfieithydd." 

Dr.  William  Brough,  the  author  of  the  original  work,  which 
was  called  "  The  Grounds  of  Christian  Religion,"  and  was  Part  I. 
of  his  "  Manual  of  Devotions,"  was  a  Cambridge  man,  and  held 
the  rectory  of  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill,  London,  in  1630,  until 
sequestered  in  1645.  He  was  a  Royal  chaplain  and  Canon  of 
Windsor.  He  held  the  Deanery  of  Gloucester  1644-5,  was 
deprived  of  it  in  the  latter  year,  but  restored  in  1660,  and  kept 
it  till  his  death  in  1671.  Rowland  Vaughan  had  undertaken  the 
translation  at  the  request  of  William  Salisbury,  the  Royalist  keeper 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

of  Denbigh  Castle,  who  bore  the  cost  and  distributed  the  books 
amongst  the  poor.  Brough  was  in  high  favour  with  Archbishop 
Laud,  reputed  to  be  an  Arminian,  and  suspected  of  Popery.1  If 
this  book  is  a  criterion,  there  was  no  ground  for  the  suspicion. 

Rowland  Vaughan's  next  work  was :  "  Pregeth  yn  erbyn 
Schism  :  Neu,  Wahaniadau  yr  Amseroedd  hyn  :  A  Bregethwyd  yn 
Watlington  yn  sir  Rydychen,  mewn  peth  cythryfwl,  Medi  n, 
1652.  Yn  ol  ymddadleu  cyhoeddus  a  fu  yno  Rhwng  Jasper 
Mayne,  D.D.  Ac  un  [John  Pendarves].  Cyfieith.  R.  V.  Mat. 
13.  46.  [quoted].  Caer-Ludd:  Argraphedig  gan  Jo.  Streater 
tros  Phil.  Chetwynd." 

This  book  is  dedicated  to  his  nephew,  Evan  Vaughan,  and 
his  family  at  Moel  y  Fronllwyd,  who  took  charge  of  several  of  our 
author's  MSS.  during  the  unsettled  times  of  the  Civil  War. 
Following  this  address  are  Latin  lines  in  praise  of  Rowland 
Vaughan,  W.  Salisbury,  and  W.  Brough. 

The  translation  was  produced  under  the  following  circum- 
stances:  Rowland  Vaughan  (who  was  in  1642  High  Sheriff  of 
Merionethshire2)  had  .been  called  to  serve  on  the  Grand  Jury 
during  the  trial  of  one  of  the  "  Seintiau  newydd."  Vavasor 
Powell,  who  was  present,  it  is  supposed  as  a  witness  in  support  of 
the  puritan,  protested  against  Vaughan  on  the  ground  that  he 
might  be  prejudiced,  as  he  was  so  utterly  opposed  to  Puritanism. 
The  latter  asked  the  Court  permission  to  reply  to  the  charge,  but 
was  refused.  After  the  trial,  Vaughan  wrote  to  Powell  and 
received  a  reply,  the  tenor  of  which  occasioned  this  translation 
by  the  man  who  had  suffered  so  much  for  his  loyalty  to  the  Royal 
cause.  What  Powell's  reply  was,  is  not  known,  but  presumably 
it  touched  some  point  of  religious  controversy  to  which  Vaughan 
thought  Jasper  Mayne's  sermon  3  the  best  antidote.  The  latter 
was  an  Oxford  scholar,  who  wrote  works  full  of  wit  and  sarcasm 
against  the  Cromwellians.  His  "  Sermon  against  Schism,  or  the 
Separations  of  these  times,"  was  based  on  Heb.  x.  24,  25,  and 

1  Fasti  Oxon:  ii.  p.  731.  " Arch.  Camb.  vol.  ii.  (List  of  Sheriffs). 
3  Jasper  Mayne  (1604-1672),  educated  at  Christ  Church,  Oxon,  deprived 
during  Commonwealth.  Archdeacon  of  Chichester,  1660  •  72, 

143 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL  WRITINGS 

had  been  preached  in  the  Church  at  Watlington  with  some 
interruption,  on  Sept.  n,  1652,  against  one,  John  Pendarves,  an 
Anabaptist.1 

Rowland  Vaughan  also  published  another  work  against 
schism  in  1658,  entitled  "  Ymddiffyniad  Rhag  pla  o  Schism  neu 
Swyn  gyfaredd  yn  erbyn  neullduaethau  yr  Amseroedd.  A  dyn- 
nwyd  allan  o  Ragscrifeniadau  yr  Apostolion  gan  mwyaf  :  allan  o 
waith  St.  Paul  a  St.  Jud.  Yn  dangos  trwy  yspysrwydd  goruchel,  i 
ba  gyfryw  bechodau  a  pheryglon  ofnadwy  y  syrthiant  hwy,  y  rhai 
a  red  allan  or  Ecclwys  i  Schism  neu  rwygiad.  Ac  o  ba  fath 
gynneddf  melldigedig  ddamnedig  ydyw  y  gwyr  a  demtia,  ac  a 
arweinia  ir  cyfryw  neillduadau.  Cyfieithiad  R.  V.  Esc.  i  Cor.  ii. 
1 8,  19.  [quoted]  .  .  .  [Quotation  from  Tertullian]  .  .  .  Print- 
iedig  ynghaer  Ludd  gan  Joa.  Streater  tros  Philip  Chetwinde,  1658." 

The  production  of  these  five  books  in  one  year  shows  with 
what  ardour  this  old  Welsh  squire  defended  his  religious  princi- 
ples, and  how  pre-eminent  he  was  amongst  his  contemporaries  in 
his  aim  to  improve  his  countrymen.  Very  little  is  known  about 
him,  and  the  year  of  his  birth  has  not  been  definitely  ascertained. 
He  was  the  son  of  John  Vaughan,  of  Caergai,  but  the  Alumni 
Oxonienses  errs  when  it  states  that  this  "  excellent  linguist  and 
renowned  poet  "  was  the  Rowland  Vaughan  whose  record  is  that 
he  entered  Gloucester  Hall  1574-5,  at  the  age  of  14.  We  know 
definitely  that  Rowland  Vaughan,  our  author,  died  in  1667,  and 
published  books  as  late  as  1658.  No  man  of  98  years,  which  is 
what  his  age  would  be,  were  he  born  in  1560,  as  the  Alumni 
Oxonienses  states,  could  accomplish  this. 

Of  his  poetry,  more  will  be  said  later.  As  for  his  prose,  it 
was  vigorous  and  idiomatic,  and  in  his  translations  the  originals 
have  not  suffered  much  at  his  hands.  He  certainly  did  a  good 
work  for  his  country  when  he  gave  it,  in  1630,  the  book  which 
had  such  a  wide -spread  devotional  influence  on  almost  every 
country  in  Europe,  and  even  as  far  as  the  haunts  of  the  Red- 
skins in  the  Western  hemisphere — Bishop  Bayly's  "  Practice  of 
Piety." 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  507-08. 

149 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  year  1630  produced  also  another  devotional  book  which 
had  a  deep  and  abiding  influence  upon  Welsh  life  in  this  century, 
and  which  Rowland  Vaughan  mentioned  in  his  preface,  viz., 
Lhvybr  Hyffordd  i'r  Nefoedd.  Its  full  title  is  taken  here  from  the 
1682  edition  of  the  work,  supervised  by  Charles  Edwards,  which 
is  the  second  edition  (the  title-page  of  the  copy  of  the  first  edition 
which  came  into  the  writer's  hands  is  missing),  and  is  as  follows : 
"  Llwybr  hyffordd  yn  cyfarwyddo  yr  anghyfarwydd  i'r  nefoedd. 
Yn  yr  hwn  y  dichon  dyn  ystyriol  weled  ei  gyflwr  presennol,  pa  un 
ydyw  ai  cadwedig,  ai  colledig.  Wedi  ei  osod  allan  ar  dull  ym- 
ddiddanion,  yn  gyntaf  yn  Saesonaec,  o  waith  Arthur  Dent, 
Gweinidog  Gair  Duw.  Ac  yr  Awr-hon  wedi  ei  gyfieithu  yn 
Gamberaec  er  cymmorth  ir  Cymro  annysgedig,  fel  y  gallo  efe 
gael  yn  ei  dafod-iaith  ei  hun,  foddion  a  chyfryngau  i  chwanegu  ei 
wybodaeth  i  wasanaethu  Duw.  Esay  i.  16  [verse  quoted].  Yr 
ail  argraphiad.  Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Bennet  Griffin  yn 
y  Flwyddyn,  1682."  The  printer  of  the  1630  edition  was 
"  Nicholas  Okes  dros  George  Latham,  ac  a  geir  ar  werth  yn 
monwent  St.  Paul  tan  arwydd  Pen  Escob,  1630." 

The  dedication  runs  :  "I'r  Gwir  Barchedig  Dad  yn  Nuw, 
lohn  drwy  rad  Duw  Arglwydd  Escob  Llan  Elwy,  R.  LI.  sy'n 
damuno  pob  llwyddiant ;  a  diddanwch  Ysprydol  ar  y  ddaiar,  a 
gogoniant  tragwyddol  yn  y  Nefoedd."  Then  follows  a  letter  "  At 
y  darllennudd  o  Gymro  uniaith  ;  Annerch.  O'm  stafell  yn  Ffoster 
Ian  yn  Llundain  yr  Ugeinfed  dydd  o  fis  Medi.  1629."  The 
contents  of  the  book  fall  under  six  heads  :  i.  Drueni  dyn  tan 
naturiaeth,  a'r  ymadferth  i  ddiangc  rhagddo.  2.  Anwiredd  yr 
amser  ymma,  a  chyffredin  lygredigaeth  y  byd.  3.  Nodau  plant 
Duw,  a  nodau  y  gwrthodedig  :  ac  arwyddion  hysbys  o  iachawdwr- 
iaeth  a  damnedigaeth.  4,  Mor  anhawdd  yw  myned  i  fywyd ;  a 
lleied  yw  nifer  y  rhai  a  ant  yno.  5.  An  wybodaeth  y  byd,  a'i  wrth- 
attebion  yntef.  6.  Hyfryd  addewidion  yr  Efengyl,  ac  ami 
drugareddau  Duw  i'r  sawl  oil  a  edifarhant,  ac  a  gredant,  ac  a  wir 
ddychwelant  atto  ef." 

The  four  characters  who  take  part  in   the    dialogue    are 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Theologus  (Pregeth-wr),  Phila$athus  (G\vr-da),  Asiinetus  (Ang- 
hyfanvydd-ddyn),  Anti/egon  (Ceccryn).  The  text,  which  runs  to 
446  pages,  is  followed  by  Family  Prayers,  arranged  for  morning 
and  evening  use,  and  private  prayers.  In  the  1682  edition, 
Charles  Edwards,  as  was  his  wont,  appended  a  letter  entitled 
"  Diwygiwr  y  Preintwasg  at  y  Darllennydd.  C.E.  1682."  The 
next  thing  in  the  book  is  the  translation  of  Arthur  Dent's  sermon 
(but  not  in  full)  on  "  Repentance,"  based  on  St.  Luke  xiii.  5, 
which  Robert  Llwyd  had  issued  separately  and  completely  in 
1629.  The  Llwybr  Hyffordd  was  also,  as  the  title-page  shows, 
the  translation  of  one  of  Arthur  Dent's  works.  The  book  ends 
with  a  vocabulary,  which  Charles  Edwards  generally  appended  to 
the  books  he  edited,  for  the  same  reason  he  mentions  here  : 
"  Deongliad  rhai  geiriau  yn  y  llyfr  hwn  a  allant  fod  yn  anhawdd 
eu  deall  mewn  rhai  mannau,  yn  enwedig  yn  Neheubarth  Cymru." 

Arthur  Dent,  the  author  of  the  original  Plain  Pat/iway  to 
Heaven  was  minister  of  South  Shoobery  (or  Soubery),  in  Essex, 
and  one  of  the  Presbyterians  of  James  I's.  reign,  who  was  cited 
by  Bishop  Aylmer  to  appear  before  the  High  Commission  Court, 
in  1584,  for  refusing  to  wear  the  surplice  and  to  make  the  sign  of 
the  cross  in  baptism.  He  afterwards,  with  twenty-six  other 
ministers,  presented  a  petition  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council. 
He  also  wrote  a  work  called  "  The  Ruine  of  Rome,  or  an  Exposi- 
tion of  Revelation."  He  died  about  I600.1 

Robert  Llwyd  was  a  Carnarvonshire  man,  who  entered 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  1585,  aged  20.  He  graduated  B.A. 
in  1588,  and  M.A.  in  I59i,2  perhaps  B.D.  in  1602.  Archdeacon 
Thomas,  in  his  learned  work  "  The  History  of  the  Diocese  of  St. 
Asaph,"  records  him  as  Rector  of  Halkyn,  Flints,  1594-1626; 
Vicar  of  Wrexham,  1598-1640:  Vicar  of  Chirk,  1615;  Vicar  of 
Nannerch,  1629  ;  and  Prebendary  of  Meliden  (Treasurer  of  St. 
Asaph  Cathedral),  in  1624.2 

It  was  generally  supposed  that  he  was  not  ejected  by  the 
Cromwellian    Commissioners.       Judging    from    the    convincing 
'Brook's    Life  of  ike    Puritans  %   ii.,    p.    Ill,      8 Alumni    Oxoiticnscs* 
st  vol.  i,,  \\  341. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

sincerity  of  his  words  in  his  letter  to  the  "  Reader,"  prefacing 
Llwybr  Hyffordd,  he  could  be  guilty  of  no  dereliction  of  duty, 
for  he  there  urges  the  illiterate  to  make  every  effort  to  learn  to 
read  in  order  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  an  open  book  to  them 
for  their  soul's  good.  Walker,  however,  was  quite  correct  in  his 
"  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy  "  when  he  states  that  he  was  ejected. 
Thomas,  in  his  History  of  St.  Asaph,  names  him  among  the 
parochial  clergy  deprived1  and  also  in  the  list  of  prebendaries  so 
treated.2  This  is  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  a  paper  recently 
issued  by  Cymdeithas  Lien  Cymru,  which  records  the  proceedings 
of  the  Commissioners  in  North  Wales  under  the  "  Act  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel."  There  is  one  entry  which  concerns 
Robert  Llwyd.  It  reads  :  "  At  a  meeting  held  at  Wrexham,  Nov. 
21,  1650,  Resolved  yl  Mr  Lloyd  Vicar  of  Chirke  be  allowed 
twenty  pounds  per  arm.  out  of  ye  profitts  of .  ye  said  vicaridge  " 
(p.  26).3  And  "  Robert  Lloyd  V.  of  Chirk  1616  Preb.  of  Meliden 
1624  Deprived  by  the  Commonwealth  Assessors,"  is  a  further 
record  by  Archdeacon  Thomas. 

The  Llwybr  Hyffordd  is  Robert  Llwyd's  chief  work.  It  is 
written  in  excellent  Welsh,  is  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  deep 
devotion  and  religious  fervour,  and  is  essentially  Calvinistic  in 
doctrine.  His  style  is  almost  as  vigorous  as  that  of  Elis  Wyn  in 
the  Bardd  Cwsg.  In  its  preface  he  declaims  against  unprofitable 
games,  which  squandered  time  that  might  be  used  to  better 
advantage.  In  particular,  he  pleads  .with  his  countrymen  to 
abandon  the  dice -board  and  the  tavern,  and  to  cultivate  reading. 
There  is  no  mention  of  his  return  to  his  preferments  at  the 
Restoration,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  died  before  1660.  Arch- 
deacon Thomas  thinks  it  likely  that  Robert  Llwyd  was  associated 
with  the  production  of  the  1630  Bible.  He  was  certainly  in 
London,  on  his  own  showing,  in  Sept.  1629.*. 

The  following  year,  1631,  saw  the  publication  of  Car-wr  y 
Cymru.     There  has  been  considerable  confusion  about  the  work 

'See  vol.  i.  p.  in.     2ibidiii.  p.  341.     3This  was  probably  the  fifth  of 
the  income  of  the,  benefice.    4  See  his  Dedication  in  the  Lkuybr  Hyffordd^ 

152 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

bearing  this  title.  It  has  arisen  through  ignorance  of  the  fact 
that  tivo  distinct  works  bearing  the  same  main  title  were  printed, 
the  first  in  1630,  and  the  second,  which  is  the  better  known,  in 
1631.  The  British  Museum  "  Catalogue  of  Early  British  Books  to 
1640,"  on  page  1578,  records  the  two  different  works,  and  to 
show  how  entirely  they  differ,  their  respective  titles  shall  be  given 
here  in  full : 

"  Carwr  y  Cymru  :  yn  Anfon  ychydig  gymmorth  i  bob  Tad, 
a  mam  sy'n  ewyllysio  bod  eu  plant  yn  blant  i  Dduw  hefyd :  a 
chael  o  honynt  wir  wybodaeth  o  ffordd  iechydwriaeth.  Neu 
ymddiddan  Ysprydol  rhwng  rhieni  a'u  plant,  yn  cynnwys  eu 
dyledswydd  i'w  gilydd.  [Two  verses  quoted,  Esay  38.  19,  and 
Diarhebion  22.  5].  Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  Nicholas  Okes 
dros  Philemon  Stephens,  a  Christopher  Meredith,  tan  arwydd  y 
Llew  Euraidd  ym  MonwentS.  Paul.  1630." 

This  is  a  small  book  containing  but  twelve  pages,  whereas 
the  other  is  a  larger  work  containing  135  pages  of  text,  and  is 
entitled  : 

"Car-wr  y  Cymru,  Yn  annog  ei  genedl  anwyl,  a'i  gydwladwyr 
er  mwyn  Crist  ai  heneidiau  i  chwilio  yr  Scrythyrau  yn  ol  gorchymyn 
Crist.  Joh.  5.  39.  Y  rhai,  yr  awr  'hon  yn  ddiweddar  a  brinti- 
wyd  o  newydd  yn  Gymraec ;  ac  a  geir  ar  werth  yn  llyfran  cynnwys, 
a  bychain  eu  maintioli  a'i  pris,  drwy  fawr  ddiwydrwydd,  a  thraul 
swrn  o  wyr  Duwyol,  enwog  ac  ewyllys-gar  i  wneuthur  daioni  i'r 
Cymru.  Llvndain,  Printiedig  gan  Felix  Kyngston,  drwy  awdur- 
dod.  1631." 

Nothing  is  known  as  to  the  author  of  the  first  of  these  books, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Oliver  Thomas  was  the  author 
of  the  second,  although  it  is  generally  ascribed  to  him.  Anthony 
Wood  states  definitely  that  he  was  the  author.1  And  as  he  based 
most  of  his  information  concerning  Welsh  authors  on  the  authority 
of  Welsh  Principals  of  Jesus  College,  and  others,  who  were  his 
contemporaries  during  the  time  he  compiled  his  laborious  and 
useful  work,  and  especially,  as  he  states,  of  Michael  Roberts,  who 
1  Atken :  Oxen  :  i.  p,  860. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

had  years  of  leisure  at  Oxford  after  his  ejection  (or,  rather,  his 
forced  resignation)  from  the  Principalship  of  Jesus  College,  during 
which  he  could  fully  inform  himself  on  matters  he  communicated 
to  Wood,  his  opinion  must  not  be  lightly  put  aside.  It  is  the 
kind  of  work  that  might  have  been  expected  from  a  man  of 
Oliver  Thomas'  sympathies.  He  was  subsequently  one  of  the 
Commissioners  under  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  term 
"  Cromwell's  Bible,"  used  of  the  1654  edition,  suggests  that  the 
Commissioners  paid  special  attention  to  the  dissemination  of  the 
Scriptures.  So  that  it  would  be  no  strange  thing  to  find  Oliver 
Thomas  strongly  advocating,  as  this  work  does,  that  the  Cymry 
should  possess  themselves  of  the  edition  of  the  Bible  put  into 
their  hands  through  the  generosity  of  Rowland  Heilyn  and 
Thomas  Middleton.  There  is,  however,  no  evidence  to  substan- 
tiate this  opinion.  The  book  itself,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  sequel  to  the  crown  octavo  edition  of  the  Bible  of  1630, 
exhorts  the  Cymry  to  make  use  of  the  Scriptures  now  brought 
within  their  reach,  has  a  prayer  for  forgiveness  for  the  neglect  of 
them  hitherto,  Morning  and  Evening  Prayers  for  family  worship, 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayers  to  be  used  on  Sundays  by  the  head 
of  the  family,  a  Grace  before  Meat  and  after  Meat,  a  letter  to  the 
reader  by  Robert  Llwyd,  Vicar  of  Y  Waun  (Chirk),  and  an 
exhortation  in  English  "To  ail  the  Worthy  and  True-hearted 
Well-willers  and  furtherers  of  the  Spiritual  weal  of  Wales  who 
have  put  their  helping  hand  and  hearts  to  that  late,  necessary,  and 
worthy  worke  of  Setting  forth  the  Bible  in  Welsh  in  a  small 
volume."  The  book  ends  with  The  Pronunciation  of  the  Letters 
in  the  British  Tongue,  and  A  Comparison  of  the  Letters  in  Welsh 
to  the  Greeke  and  Hebrew  Letters,  the  work  of  Edward  Kyffm. 

Oliver  Thomas  is  stated  in  the  Alumni  Oxonienses  to  have 
been  a  Montgomeryshire  man,  and  is  styled  gentleman.  He 
entered  Hart  Hall  in  1616,  at  the  age  of  18,  which  gives  1598  as 
the  year  of  his  birth.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1620,  and  M.A.  in 
1628.  If  he  wrote  Car-wr  y  Cymru  he  did  so  at  the  height  of 
his  powers,  when  he  was  thirty -three.  After  leaving  the 
154 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

University  he  became  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  name  appears 
amongst  the  "  approvers  "  in  the  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  (1650-53).  The  Oxford  record  states  that  he  was  "  perhaps 
Rector  of  Lawrenny,  co.  Pembroke,  in  1624."  If  this  is  so,  he 
must  have  received  episcopal  Orders,  before  he  seceded  to 
Presbyterianism.  We  find  that  he  was  elected  to  the  benefice  of 
Llanrhaiadr-ym-Mochnant,  May  14,  1650,  by  the  Commissioners, 
and  the  following  entry  occurs  in  their  "  Proceedings  in  North 
Wales " :  "  Mr.  Oliver  Thomas  elected  Llanrhaiader  in  the 
Countyes  of  Denbigh  and  Merioneth,"  and  it  is  quaintly  added, 
"  William  Hill  of  Llanrhaiader  was  then  ejected  and  dejected."  ' 

The  only  work  which  bears  Oliver  Thomas'  name  is  that 
which  appeared  in  1647,  entitled,  "  Drych  i  dri  math  o  Bobl,  sef 
i'r  Anghristion,  Rhith-gristion,  a'r  Gwir-gristion,  1647."  A 
second  edition  of  this  excellently  written  work  appeared  in  Trysor 
fr  Cymnt,  in  1677,  edited  by  Stephen  Hughes,  Oliver  Thomas 
is  supposed  to  have  been  promoted  in  1657  to  a  living  in  Shrop- 
shire,2 and  to  have  died  at  Felton,  in  that  county,  but  I  find 
nothing  to  support  either  of  these  statements.  The  year  of  his 
death  is  unknown.  The  theory  that  Robert  Llwyd  was  the  author 
of  Car-ivr  y  Cymru  rests  on  the  foundation  that  he  has  signed 
the  letter  to  the  "  Reader,"  which  precedes  the  text,  but  this  does 
not  necessarily  constitute  him  the  author. 

In  1632,  was  published  one  of  the  best  prose  writings  both  as 
regards  substance  and  style  in  the  Welsh  language.  It  was  the 
work  of  Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd,  and  is  entitled :  "  Llyfr 
y  Resolusion,  yr  hwn  sydd  yn  dysgv  i  ni  bawb  wneuthur  ein  goreu, 
a  rhoi  cwbl  o'n  bryd  a'n  meddwl  ar  fod  yn  wir  Gristianogion, 
hynny  ydyw  ar  ymadael  a'n  drwg  fuchedd,  a  throi  ar  ddaioni  a 
duwioldeb ;  Wedi  ei  gyfieithu  yn  Gymraeg  y  gan  J.  D.  [Dr.  John 
Davies  o  Fallwyd]  er  lies  i'w  blwyfolion  ;  A'i  brintio  yn  Llundain 
yn  nhy  John  Beale,  tros  yr  un  J.  D.  1632." 

This  book,  which  is  a  translation  of  Edmund  Bunney's  adapta- 
tion, for  Protestant  readers,  of  Robert  Parsons'  Christian-  Directory, 
1  Cymdeitfias  Lien  Cymni:  "An  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Wales,  1649,"  p.  18.  2  AfAen  :  Oxon  :  i.,  p.  860. 

'$5 


•was  previously  translated  into  Welsh  by  Robert  Gwinn  (Gwynne), 
:  whose  record  in  the  History  of  Oxford  Writers  is  as  follows  : 
' "  Robert  Gwinn,  a  Welsh  man  born,  took  one  degree  in  Arts, 
1568,  and  in  1571,  leaving  the  University,  went  with  Thorn. 
'•  Crowther  another  Batchelour,  to  Dovvay,  where  being  admitted  into 
the  English  College,  made  very  great  progress  in  Divinity.  After- 
wards Gwinn  returning  into  England,  and  settling  in  Wales  in  the 
condition  of  a  Secular  Priest,  did  write  several  Pious  Works  in 
the  Welsh  Tongue,  as  Anton.  Possivinus  tells  us,  but  the  Titles 
of  them  he  omits ;  and  also  translated  from  the  English  into  the 
Welsh  Language,  A  Christian  Directory  or  Exercise  guiding  Men 
to  Eternal  Salvation,  commonly  called  the  Resolution  :  Written  by 
Rob.  Persons,  the  Jesuit,  which  translation  was  much  used  and 
valued,  and  so  consequently  did  a  great  deal  of  good  among  the 
Welsh  people.  See  more  in  Jo.  Davies  under  the  year  1634.' 
The  further  reference  to  which  we  are  directed  states  :  "  He  (Dr. 
John  Davies)  also  translated  into  the  same  language  (Welsh) 
which  he  had  studied  at  vacant  hours  for  thirty  years  the  book  of 
Resolution,  written  by  Robert  Persons,  a  Jesuit."2  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  further  the  record  of  Robert  Persons  or  Parsons,  given 
in  the  same  work,  gathered,  as  the  writer  states,  "  partly  from  his 
own  writings,  partly  from  record,  and  partly  from  impartial 
writers." 

"  He  was  a  most  noted  and  learned  writer  of  his  time,  and 
the  ornament  of  the  English  nation  in  the  opinion  of  those  of  his 
Society.  .  .  .  Having  a  good  memory  he  could  repeat  what  he  had 
read  once  or  twice  very  readily.  ...  A  virtuous  good  Priest  who 
became  Vicar  of  Nether-Stowey,  perceiving  that  Robert  had 
pregnant  parts,  did  teach  him  the  Latin  tongue.  ...  In  the  latter 
end  of  1563,  R.  Parsons  being  fitted  for  Academical  learning  was 
sent  to  the  said  College  (Balliol).  ...  By  the  help  of  good 
natural  parts  with  unwearied  industry  he  became  in  short  time  a 
smart  Disputant  not  only  in  the  college,  but  publick  Schools,  as 
occasion  served.  In  1568  he  was  admitted  Bachelor  of  Arts  and 
*Atheni  Oxon:  i.  p.  224.  2  ibid  i.  p.  519. 

1*6 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

the  same  year  Probationer -Fellow  of  the  said  College,  which, 
being  terminated,  he  was  made  Chaplain -Fellow,  and  so  conse- 
quently went  into  Orders,  being  then  a  noted  Tutor  in  the 
College.  In  1572  he  was  admitted  Master  of  Arts,  and  in  1574 
he  resigned  his  Fellowship  of  his  own  accord,  being  then,  if  not 
before,  about  to  change  his  Religion.  In  1574  he  left  England, 
went  to  Calais  and  thence  to  Antwerp,  he  diverted  himself  for  a 
time  with  a  journey  to  Louvain  ....  intending  to  prosecute  the 
study  of  Physick  at  Padua.  At  length  he  went  there  and  studied 
that  Faculty  .  .  .  and  Civil  Law.  Upon  second  thoughts  he 
relinquished  those  studies,  went  to  the  Eng.  College  at  Rome, 
and  was  there  admitted  into  the  Society  of  Jesus,  1575  .  .  .  .  He 
was  constituted  Rector  of  the  English  College  [at  Rome]  in  1587. 
.  .  .  He  was  more  zealous  for  promoting  the  Jesuits'  interest 
than  any  before  his  time."1 

Robert  Parsons  had  first  pnblished  his  book  in  1583,  from 
which  edition  and  book  were  framed  two  more,  published  in 
1584,  one  by  a  Roman  Catholic  living  at  Rouen,  which  Wood 
states  was  "  full  of  errors,  but  in  sense  the  same,"  the  other  by 
Edmund  Bunney,2  of  Merton  College,  Oxford.  Bunney,  how- 
ever, altered  the  book  "  to  the  Protestant  use,"  and  was  called  to 
task  for  doing  so  by  Parsons  in  the  preface  to  his  1585  edition  of 
the  Christian  Directory.^ 

Wood  further  states  that  "  these  books  of  Resolution  won 
Parsons  a  great  deal  of  praise,  not  only  in  the  judgment  of  Roman 
Catholics,  but  of  very  learned  Protestants."  Critics,  however, 
asserted  that  his  work  was  not  original,  and  that  the  praise  he 
deserves  is  mainly  that  due  to  a  good  translator.  "  The  platform 
of  the  said  Resolution  was  laid  to  his  hand,  by  L.  de  Granada, 
who  gave  him  the  principal  grounds  and  the  matter  thereof."* 

'  Athen  :  Oxon  :  i.  pp.  304  -  5.  *  Edmund  Bunney's  record  in  the 
Alumni  Oxonienses  is  as  follows  :  Son  of  Richard  [Bunney]  of  Newlands. 
Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  1560;  B.A.,  1560;  M.A.,  1564-5;  Fellow  of 
Merton,  1565;  B.D.,  1570;  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  1564;  Sub  -  dean  of  York, 
1570:  Canon  of  York,  1575.  Died,  1617-18;  buried  in  York  Minster, 
a  A  then  ;  Oxati :  i.  pp.  304  -  5.  4  ibid  p,  307. 

'57 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Dr.  John  Davies  was  amongst  those 
referred  to  as  "  very  learned  Protestants,"  who  saw  the  value  of 
Parsons'  work  as  a  devotional  book,  and  gave  his  countrymen  the 
benefit  of  it  in  their  own  language.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add 
that  none  of  the  tenets  of  Rome  appear  in  this  translation.  John 
Davies  did  for  Wales  what  Edmund  Bunney  had  done  for 
England.  He  altered  the  book  "  to  the  Protestant  use."  It  can 
be  conjectured  that  Robert  Gwinn's  translation,  or  Edmund 
Bunney's  altered  version,  or  both,  came  into  his  hands.  The 
necessity  for  a  Welsh  translation  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Gwinn's 
work  would  be  doctrinally  unpalatable  to  the  vast  majority  of 
Welshmen.  But  the  devotional  side  of  the  work  was  so  uplifting 
that  Dr.  Davies  would  have  his  parishioners,  in  the  first  place,  and 
his  countrymen  generally,  in  the  second,  reap  the  advantage  of 
contact  with  a  truly  devotional  mind,  whether  it  were  that  of 
Parsons  or  of  I/,  de  Granada. 

A  second  edition  of  Llyfry  Resolution  was  issued  by  Charles 
Edwards  in  1684,  in  the  title-page  of  which  it  is  stated:  "Fe 
brintiwyd  y  Llyfr  hwn,  er  ys  mwy  na  banner  cant  o  fiynyddoedd  a 
aethant  heibio,  ac  yn  awr  drachefn,  nid  yn  unic  er  mwyn  y 
Gymraeg  bur  sydd  ynddo  (yn  amgenach  nag  mewn  un  llyfr  ond 
y  Bibl),  eithr  hefyd  er  mwyn  y  Defnydd  da  ar  a  ellir  ei  wneuthur 
o  hono.  Yr  ail  Argraphiad  yn  Llundain,  gan  I.  R.  yn  y  flwyddyn 
1684." 

It  had  been  intended  to  issue  this  edition  in  1677,  and  the 
editor  of  the  Trysor  fr  Cymru  in  his  "  Llythyr  at  y  Darllenydd," 
states  his  purpose  thus  (as  it  includes  his  opinion  of  Dr.  Davies' 
writing  it  shall  be  quoted  in  full)  :  "  Os  Duw  a  rydd  iechyd  a 
bywyd  disgwyliwch  mewn  amser,  am  ail  brintio  y  Llwybr  Hyffordd 
i'r  Nefoedd  a  Llyfr  y  Resolution,  y  rhai,  nid  yn  unig  er  mwyn  y 
mater,  ond  hefyd  er  mwyn  y  iaith  tra  ragorol  sydd  ynddynt  (ac  yn 
enwedig  y  diwethaf  o'r  ddau,  o  ran  iaith  wedi  ei  osod  allan  gan  y 
cymreigiwr  goreu  yng-Hymru  yn  ei  amser,  sef  y  Doctor  Davies\  a 
haeddant  eu  printio  drachefn."  J 
lLlyft\y  Cymry,  p.  231. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

This  edition  is  very  accurate  throughout. 

The  next  edition  generally  mentioned  is  that  of  1711, 
wrongly  supposed  to  have  been  the  third  edition.1  The  1711 
edition  was  printed  by  Thomas  Durston,  at  Shrewsbury.  But 
there  is  also  an  edition  very  similar  to  this,  which  was  printed  by 
Thomas  Jones,  at  Shrewsbury,  but  is  undated.  A  copy  of  this  is 
to  be  seen  at  the  University  College  Library,  at  Bangor.  Durston 
succeeded  Thomas  Jones  at  Oswestry,  so  the  edition  bearing  the 
name  of  the  latter  must  have  been  earlier  than  1711.  It  is  much 
the  same  in  size  and  appearance  as  that  of  1711,  but  the 
pagination  differs.  The  issue  of  1 7 1 1  is,  therefore,  the  fourth  edition. 

Dr.  W.  O.  Pughe  published  an  edition  in  1802,  and  in  this 
occurs  an  alternative  title  to  Llyfr  y  Resolusion,  viz.,  Dyhewyd  y 
Cristion.  He  wrongly  calls  it  the  fourth  edition.  The  last 
edition  published  is  that  by  Humphreys,  of  Carnarvon,  in  which 
the  preface  is  dated,  May,  1885.  The  work  stands  in  need  of 
further  publication,  and  is  worthy  the  trouble  of  some  competent 
scholar  to  edit.  At  the  end  of  Dr.  Davies'  book  is  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  Breton,  and  in  Cornish,  with  a  Welsh  interpretation  of 
the  same.  There  are  also  added  "  Pyngciau'r  Ffydd  yn  laith 
Llydaw,"  and  "  Yr  un  yn  laith  Gernyw,"  together  with  the  Te 
Deum  as  translated  by  Dafydd  Ddu  o  Hiraddug. 

The  last  book  issued  by  Dr.  Davies  was  Yr  ken  Lyfr  Plygain 
a'r  gwir  Gafea'sm,  1633.  The  authority  for  this  statement  is 
Thomas  Jones,  of  Shrewsbury,  in  his  Almanac,  which  was  first 
published  in  1680.  He  states  that  this  work  was  published  "trwy 
orchymyn  y  Brenin,  a  thrwy  lafur  boen  (y  Doctor  John  Davies) 
yn  y  flwyddyn  o  oed  lesu,  1633  "2  A  second  edition  of  "Yr 
Hen  Lyfr  Plygain"  was  issued  by  Thomas  Jones  in  1683.  It 
contained  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  prayers  for  other 
occasions,  a  grace  before  and  after  meat,  and  a  list  of  the  old 
Welsh  fairs.  The  catechism  part  of  the  book  was  intended  to 
prepare  candidates  for  confirmation  and  for  the  reception  of  Holy 
Communion.  Dr.  John  Davies  died  in  1644. 

1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  293.     ~  This  statement  occurs  in  the   1683  Almanac. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Rhys  Prichard  (1579-1644),  Vicar  of  Llandovery,  was, 
perhaps,  the  man  who  exercised  the  deepest  influence  on  Welsh 
life  on  its  religious  side  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  few 
details  that  can  be  gleaned  of  his  personal  history  show  that  he 
was  born  at  Llandovery  in  1579,  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
in  1597,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1602,  and 
M.A.  in  1626.*  He  was  ordained  at  Wytham  in  Essex  by  the 
Suffragan  Bishop  of  Colchester  in  1602,  and  in  the  same  year  was 
presented  to  the  livings  of  Llandingat  and  Llanymddyfri  by  the 
Bishop  of  St.  David's.  In  1613,  King  James  presented  him  to 
the  living  of  Llanedi,  probably  through  the  influence  of  Robert, 
Earl  of  Essex,  to  whom  Vicar  Prichard  was  chaplain.  In  1614 
he  was  made  a  prebend  of  the  Collegiate  church  of  Brecon,  and 
in  1626  Chancellor  of  St.  David's  Cathedral,  which  was  the  highest 
dignity  he  attained  in  the  church.  He  had  also  become  Vicar  of 
Llawhaden  in  1626,  and  retained  the  same  until  his  death  in  1644. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  Vicar  Prichard  himself  ever  published 
a  book. 

The  state  of  Wales  at  that  time  was  one  of  notorious  apathy 
towards  religion,  and  the  life  of  the  masses  was  as  coarse  and 
vulgar  as  it  well  could  be.  Very  few  could  read,  and  for  the  first 
quarter  of  a  century  of  Vicar  Prichard's  ministry,  there  were  few 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  country  except  those  chained  to 
the  lecterns  in  the  churches.  So  he  bent  his  energies  in  a  great 
humanitarian  and  spiritual  effort  to  turn  the  minds  of  his  country- 
men towards  higher  ideals.  His  great  aim  was  to  reach  the  masses, 
and  to  bring  home  to  them  spiritual  truths.  To  this  end  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  translating  his  sermons  into  homely 
verse.  He  understood  the  Welsh  fondness  for  song  and  melody. 
But  he  knew  it  would  be  impossible  to  reach  the  masses  by 
circulating  amongst  them  poems  of  high  literary  merit  and  classical 
diction.  Experience  had  taught  him  that  they  could  neither 
understand  nor  appreciate,  for  instance,  such  efforts  as  those  of 
William  Salesbury.  So  he  decided  in  favour  of  easy  diction  and 

1  Alumni  Oxonienses  ;  also  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.  p.   29. 
1 60 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

popular  metres.  He  kne'.v  the  Welshman's  poetic  instinct  and 
love  of  rhyme,  the  exercise  of  which,  at  the  time,  was  too  often 
confined  to  ribald  songs  and  coarse  ballads.  Why  not  substitute 
for  them  religious  ballads?  So  he  determined  to  clothe  the 
sublimest  truths  of  the  Gospel  in  a  garb  which  he,  with  his  better 
instincts  as  a  poet  of  some  merit,  could  not  have  admired  much 
himself.  How  well  justified  he  was  in  his  decision,  posterity  has 
attested  over  and  over  again.  Good  literary  form  would  have 
defeated  the  writer's  ends,  and  that  we  must  not  expect  to  find  in 
his  religious  ballads.  The  majority  of  his  verses  are  written  in 
four-lined  stanzas,  each  line  trochaic  ( —  -)  and  generally  consist- 
ing of  eight  syllables,  e.g.  : 

Er  croeshoelio'r  lesu  drosom 
A  rhoi  taliad  llawn  am  danom  ; 
Eto  ni  bydd  neb  cadwedig 
Ond  a  gretto  ynddo'n  unig. 

But  he  frequently  varies  the  metre  in  the  same  poem  ;  and  some- 
times in  the  same  stanza  (as  in  lines  3  and  4  below)  there  is  an 
unexpected  expansion  of  the  line,  e.g. : 

Er  dy  fod  ti'n  elyn  Duw 

Wrth  naturiaeth  a'th  ddrwg  ryw, 

Cred  yn  Nghrist,  fe'th  wna  o  elyn, 

I'th  nefol  Dad  yn  anwyl  blentyn. 

Another  variation  is  a  four -line  stanza,  each  line  containing  seven 
syllables,  but  the  third  line  beginning  with  a  strongly -accented 

syllable,  e.g.  : 

A  dysg  yn  brudd  gydnabod, 
Nad  oes  o  flaen  y  Drindod, 
lawn  am  bechod  ond  gwaed  Crist. 
A'i  angau  trist  a'i  'fudd  -  dod. 

There  are  other  instances  in  which  a  stanza  similar  to  the  above 
in  other  respects,  has  eight  syllables  in  the  third  line  which  begins 
with  an  unaccented  syllable,  e.g. : 

A  gwybydd  fod  Duw'n  foddlon, 
I'r  iawn  a  wnaeth  Crist  drosom, 
Ac  er  ei  fwyn  yn  barod  iawn 
Roi  pardwn  llawn  i'r  ffyddlon. 

Other  four -lined  stanzas,  which  have  seven  syllables  in  each  line, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

begin  the  first  and  third  lines  with  an  accented  syllable,  and  the 
second  and  fourth  with  an  unaccented  syllable,  e.g.  : 

Ni  wnaeth  Duw  un  gene  'rioed, 
Mewn  tir,  mewn  coed,  mewn  dyfnder, 
Nes  partoi  ei  ymborth  tyn 
I'r  geneu  cyn  ei  ganer. 

Rhys  Prichard  never  hesitated  to  use  words  quite  foreign  to 
the  Welsh  language  as  such,  provided  that  they  were  well-known 
colloquially.  His  ballads  bristle  with  such  words,  which  would 
otherwise  be  offensive  to  good  literary  taste ;  for  instance,  craits, 
crippian,  hvtchis,  part  na  pharsel,  desprad,  dwnshwn,  bysse,  &c. 

The  Vicar's  work  has  been  classified  variously.  The  follow- 
ing simple  division  into  three  classes  is  as  good  as  any.1  (i) 
Those  poems  which  throw  light  upon  the  religious  and  social 
condition  of  the  country  at  the  time ;  (2)  Those  that  contain  a 
synopsis  of  the  great  doctrines  of  revealed  religion ;  (3)  Those 
that  embody  a  collection  of  rules  or  counsels  to  be  followed  in 
every  condition  of  life.  One  feature  of  the  poems  is  the  practical 
advice  given  to  the  people  on  matters  pertaining  to  their  temporal 
welfare  as  well  as  spiritual.  For  instance,  Vicar  Prichard  advises 
them  to  be  careful  in  making  their  wills,  and  to  be  moderate  in 
eating  and  drinking,  with  just  as  much  earnestness  as  he  tells 
them  to  pray  night  and  morning  and  before  engaging  in  religious 
worship.  He  seems  to  have  a  word  for  all,  for  the  young  man  on 
the  threshold  of  life,  for  the  soldier,  the  ploughman,  the  drover, 
and  he  addresses  himself  with  particular  force  to  the  drunkard, 
for  drunkenness  was  apparently  the  common  evil  of  his  day. 
In  some  of  his  poems  he  holds  up  the  many  pestilences  and 
calamities  of  his  time  as  warnings  of  Divine  displeasure,  and  he 
gives  a  very  vivid  description  of  the  plague  which  visited  London 
in  1603,  with  all  its  attendant  horrors. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  these  ballads  had  an  elevating 
influence  upon  the  masses ;  and  Stephen  Hughes,  who  lived  near 
enough  to  appreciate  this,  knew  and  understood  the  hold  they 
had  on  the  popular  mind,  and  was  inspired  in  after  years  to  collect 

1  Traethodydd)  vol.  ii.,  pp.  143-155. 
162 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

them  with  infinite  toil,  and  to  present  them  in  book  form  to  a 
wider  public.  He  thought  that  their  publication  would  create  a 
desire  in  his  countrymen  for  further  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  he  states  in  the  preface  to  the  1672  New  Testament,  that  his 
anticipations  in  this  respect  had  not  been  disappointed.  The 
printing  of  Vicar  Prichard's  ballads  led  to  multitudes  learning  to 
read  Welsh,  who  afterwards  bought  Testaments  and  Bibles.1 

Numerous  editions  of  Canwyll  y  Cymry  have  appeared. 
Rowland's  Cambrian  Bibliography  states  the  first  part  was  issued 
by  Stephen  Hughes  in  1646,  but  this  seems  doubtful,  for  no  such 
copy  has  been  preserved.2 

The  collecting  and  printing  of  this  work  was,  perhaps, 
Stephen  Hughes'  greatest  contribution  to  Welsh  literature.  The 
Rev.  T.  Shankland,  in  a  lucid  and  able  article  in  Y  Beirniad,  is 
of  opinion  that  1656  is  a  more  likely  date  than  1646  as  the  year 
of  issue  of  the  first  part.  The  second  part  appeared  in  1659,  its 
preface  is  dated,  March  4th,  1659.  It  was  printed  by  "  T. 
Webster,  tan  arwydd  y  Tri  Bibl  yn  St.  Paul,  Llundain."  Webster 
published  a  large  quantity  of  Puritan  Welsh  literature.  The 
preface  is  signed  H.  M.,  who  is  known  to  have  been  Henry 
Maurice,  who  was  at  the  time  curate  of  Llannor  and  Dineio, 
instituted  there  by  the  Welsh  Commissioners.  He  was  afterwards 
an  Independent  minister.  Henry  Maurice,  who  was  a  North- 
walian,  had  marginal  notes  in  this  edition,  explaining  many  of  the 
Vicar's  words,  which  were  in  the  Dyfed  dialect,  for  the  benefit  of 
his  fellows  in  the  northern  half  of  the  Principality.  Stephen 
Hughes  adapted  most  of  his  books  to  the  needs  of  his  country- 
men in  North  and  South  respectively,  by  appending  a  vocabulary 
of  words  that  would  present  difficulties  to  either  part.  In  1670, 
the  third  part  of  Canwyll  y  Cymry  appeared,  with  a  preface  by 
Stephen  Hughes.  Dr.  William  Thomas,  Dean  of  Worcester,  gave 
the  latter  much  valuable  support  in  bringing  out  this  edition. 
And  in  1672,  which  was  a  very  memorable  year  for  Stephen 
Hughes  (for  in  it  he  was  instrumental  in  publishing  an  edition  of 

*  Bible  in  Wa/es,  p.  33.     2  See  Y  Bdrniad^  cyf,  ii.,  rhif  3,  p,  176, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  New  Testament),  appeared  the  complete  work,  the  three 
previous  parts  and  a  fourth  part  added,  in  one  book.  The  chaotic 
disorder  in  which  Vicar  Prichard  had  left  his  work  had  added 
very  much  to  the  difficulties  of  Stephen  Hughes,  so  that  the 
publication  of  the  whole  work  was  a  triumph  of  patience  and 
steady  industry,  and  he  well  deserves  the  tribute  paid  him  in  the 
following  words  quoted  from  the  pages  of  Y  Beirniad :  "  Mae'r 
hanes  yn  rhamant,  a'r  gwaith  yn  golofn  goffadwriaeth  anfarwol 
iddo  yng  Nghroniclau  em  hiaith  a'n  llenyddiaeth." x  The  full 
title-page  of  the  1672  edition  of  Canwyll  y  Cymry  is  as  follows  : 

"  Gwaith  Mr.  Rees  Prichard,  gynt  Ficer  Llanddyfri  yn  Sir 
Gaerfyrddin  ;  a  brintivvyd  o'r  blaen  mewn  tri  llyfr  wedi  cysylltu  oil 
a  chwbl  (er  nid  yn  yr  un  drefn  a  chynt),  ynghyd  a  Phedwaredd 
Ran  y  nawr  gynta  yn  brintiedig." 

This  was  the  first  effort  to  collect  and  arrange  the  Canwyll 
in  one  volume.  Several  Welsh  booksellers  bore  the  expense  of 
publication,  and  their  names  are  worthy  of  mention  :  Mr.  Goff, 
Caerfyrddin  ;  Mr.  Vertey,  Abergafenni ;  Matthew  Jones,  Aber- 
tawe ;  Mr.  Hughes,  Wrexham ;  not  to  mention  a  number  of 
Londoners  who  frequented  Welsh  fairs.2 

Gwallter  Mechain  remarks,3  "  It  is  thought  that  the  old  Vicar 
of  Llanymddyfri  (of  blessed  memory)  was  the  first  of  the  Welsh 
bards  to  introduce  the  names  of  pagan  deities  into  his  poems,  on 

the  return  of  Charles  I.,  then  Prince  of  Wales,  from  Spain  : 
"  Y  Miwsis  oil  o  Helicon, 

Y  Grasys  tair,  a'r  Nymphs  o'r  bron, 

Moeswch  oil  eich  offer  canu, 

O  welcwm  h6m  i  Brins  y  Cymru." 

Stephen  Hughes  was  (not  entirely  without  reason)  ashamed 
of  this  verse,  and  omitted  it  in  his  second  edition  of  Rhys 
Prichard's  work.  It  was  restored,  however,  in  the  later  editions 
of  1841  and  1858. 

Williams  remarks  in  his  Eminent  Welshmen  :  "  It  is  scarcely 
credible  with  what  uncommon  avidity  and  pleasure  it  [Canwyll  y 
Cymry]  was  received,  read,  and  repeated  by  the  people It 

'See  Y  Beirniad,  cyf.  ii.,  rhif  3,  p.  177.  *  ibid,  p.  180.  *  Gwaitk 
Gwallter  Meckain,  i.f  p.  531. 

I64 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

had  a  beneficial  influence  on  the  morals  and  behaviour  of  the 
whole  country."  A  poetical  version  in  English  was  published  by 
the  Rev.  William  Evans,  Vicar  of  Llawhaden,  in  1771, 

The  next  author  whose  work  should  be  recorded  is  John 
Edwards,  better  known  to  Welsh  readers  as  "  Sion  Tre-Redyn," 
who  translated  Edward  Fisher's  work,  The  Marrow  of  Modern 
Divinity,  in  1651.  Fisher  graduated  at  Brasenose  College, 
Oxford,  in  1630,  and  was  entered  as  a  student  of  the  Inner 
Temple,  in  the  same  year.1  His  work  was  written  in  the  form  of 
a  dialogue  between  Evangtttsta,  who  represented  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel ;  Nomista,  a  strong  supporter  of  the  law  ;  Antinomista, 
a  man  who  belittled  the  law  ;  and  Neophitus,  a  young  Christian. 
John  Edwards  had  probably  met  Fisher  at  Oxford.  He  himself 
was  a  graduate  of  Jesus  College  in  that  University,  taking  his  M.A. 
degree  in  I62Q.2  In  that  year  he  was  appointed  to  the  rectory  of 
Llanmartin,  and  was  preferred  in  1633  to  Tredennoc,  in  Mon- 
mouthshire, the  place  from  which  he  derived  his  nom -de-plume 
(Tre-redenoc,  Tre-redyn).  He  was  deprived  of  this  benefice 
before  1649,  so  it  would  not  be  by  the  Commissioners,  3  and  in 
his  enforced  retirement  he  devoted  himself  to  literature,*  and  the 
result  was  his  translation  of  the  above  work,  the  Dedication  of 
which  is  dated  1650.  In  his  introduction  to  the  reader,  dated 
1651,  he  apologises  for  the  many  errors,  in  the  following  words  : 
"  Canys  nid  wyf  fi  a  anwyd  ar  Ian  Hafren  ym  mro  Gwent  (he  had 
been  born  at  Caldecott  in  1606)  lie  y  mae  Saesoniaith  yn  drech 
na'r  Brittaniaith,  yn  cymmeryd  arnaf,  na  medraeth  nac  hysbys- 
rwydd  yn  y  Cymraeg,  eithr  nid  bychan  yw  fy  serch  at  yr  iaith  a 
daioni  fyn'  gwlad."  The  full  title  of  his  work  is  : 

Madruddyn  y  |  Difinyddiaeth  |  Diweddaraf :  Neu  |  Llyfr 
Saesoneg  a  elwir,  |  The  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity.  |  Oblegid 

1  Alumni  Oxonienses.  zibid.  ^Seren  Corner,  1901,  p.  155.  4  His  own 
words  on  the  subject  are  :  "Ac  (er  caued  fyn'  genau  rhag  ymarfer  fyn'  gweini- 
dogaeth,  I'm  torr  -  calon  mwyaf,  er  nad  wyf  fi  onid  y  gwaelaf  o  filoedd,  ac  yn 
anaddas  o'r  swydd  weinidogaidd,  eto)  am  fodd  y.i  anhawdd  gennif  fi,  ac  yn  tra 
enbeidus  i  mi,  na  Hwyr  ymadael  o'm  galwad,  na  bod  ychwaith  yn  segur  ynddi, 
y  cymerais  i  hyn  o  boen  ewyllysgar." — Introduction  to  the  Madruddyn. 

'65 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

y  Cyfammod  o  weithredoedd,  a'r  Cy-  |  fammod  o  ras,  a'u  hymar- 
fer  hwy  ill  dau,  a'u  diweddion,  v|  dan  yr  hen  Destament,  a'r  Testa- 
ment Newydd.  |  Ym  mha  un,  y  dangosir  yn  eglur,  pa  cyn  belled  | 
y  mae  dyn  yn  sefyll  ar  y  gyfraith  o  ran  ei  Cyfiawn-  |  haad,  ac  ar 
hynny  yn  haeddu  ei  alw  |  yn  Ddeddfwr.  |  A  pha  cyn  bellhed  y 
mae  arall  yn  bychanu'r  gy-  |  fraith  o  ran  Sancteiddiad,  ac  ar  hynny 
yn  haeddu  ei  ahv  j  yn  Ddeddf-wrthwynebwr.  |  A'r  Ihvybr  canolig 
rhwng  y  ddau,  yr  hon  a  |  arwain  i  fywyd  tragwyddol  trvvy  Jesu 
Christ  j  Mewn  Cyd  -  ymddiddan  rhwng  |  Evangelista.  Gwenidog 
yr  Efengyl.  |  Nomista.  Deddfwr,  neu  wr  yn  dal  o  ochor  y 
cyfraith.  |  Antinomista.  Deddf-wrthwynebwr,  neu  wr  yn  llwyr 
by-  j  chanu'r  gyfraith.  |  Neophitus.  Christion  iefangc. 

0  waith  E.  F.  yn  y  Saesneg  |  O  cyfieithiad  J.  E.  i'r  Gymraeg.  j 
Men'  mutare  nefas,  nee  clam,  nee  cum  scrobe,  |  Nusquam  ?     Hie 
tamen  infodiam.  | 

Printiedig  yn  Llundain  gan  T.  Mabb  a  A.  Coles,  dros  | 
William  Ballard,  ag  i  cael  ar  werth  yn  i  siop  ef  dan  lun  |  y  Bibl 
yn  heol'r  ud  yn  ninas  Bristol,  1651."  303  pages. 

The  title-page  itself  furnishes  sufficient  evidence  that  the 
writer  was  not  very  conversant  with  the  Welsh  language.  Making 
allowance  for  some  printer's  errors,  it  is  fairly  obvious  that  he  had 
very  little  knowledge  of  consonant  mutations,  or  the  genders  of 
Welsh  nouns.  But  the  substance  of  the  book  is  weighty,  and  was 
well  worth  the  author's  trouble  of  putting  within  reach  of  those  of 
his  monoglot  countrymen,  and  they  were  many,  who  were  deprived 
of  the  advantage  of  reading  the  original  by  Fisher.  No  record 
has  come  to  hand  of  the  year  of  John  Edwards'  death,  but  it  is 
thought  that  he  was  restored  to  his  benefice,  as  Walter  Prosser, 
who  held  that  living  from  1657  to  1660,  was  deprived  in  the 
latter  year.1 

The  next  publications  of  importance,  in  this  part  of  our 
subject,  were  the  work  of  Richard  Jones,  Vicar  of  Llanfair 
Caereinion,  a  writer  whose  identity  was  confused  in  recent  times 
with  another  of  the  same  name,  who  was  Master  of  the  Free 

1  Seren  Corner ;  1901,  p.  155. 
166 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

School  at  Denbigh.  The  history  of  this  confusion  has  been  very 
well  set  forth  by  the  Rev.  T.  Shankland  in  an  article  published  by 
Evans  and  Short,  Tonypandy,  entitled  Cynnyg  i  Benderfynu  hen 
Ddadl  Lyfryddol.  Earlier  authors  than  Gvvallter  Mechain  had 
always  distinguished  the  identity  of  the  two  men,  but  in  the 
GwyKedydd  of  September,  1825,  pp.  275-7,  Gwallter  Mechain 
started  the  heresy  which  so  many  subsequent  writers  followed. 
He  writes,  "  Nis  gwn  p\vy  oedd  Risiard  Jones  o  Ddinbych,  os  nad 
yr  un  Risiard  Jones,  mab  i  Sion  Puw  o  Henllan,  yn  ymyl 
Dinbych."  He  made  this  statement  in  ignorance  that  Wood  in 
his  Athenae  Oxonienses^  had  supplied  details,  accurate  in  the 
main,  respecting  Richard  Jones,  of  Llanfair  Caereinion,  and 
Edmund  Calamy  had  performed  a  similar  service  in  the  case  of 
Richard  Jones,  of  Denbigh.2  Or,  what  is  more  likely,  Gvvallter 
Mechain  had  seen  Wood's  account,  but  not  that  of  Calamy,  and 
found  the  solution  of  a  difficult  problem  by  ascribing  all  the 
works  which  appeared  over  the  name  of  Richard  Jones,  between 
1653  and  1677,  to  the  same  author.  The  matter  has  now,  how- 
ever, been  cleared  up,  and  the  separate  literary  identity  of  each 
Richard  Jones  restored. 

Richard  Jones,  of  Llanfair  Caereinion,  was  the  son  of  John 
Pugh,  of  Henllan,  in  Denbighshire,  and  was  born  in  that  county, 
in  1603.  He  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1621,  took  the 
degrees  in  Arts,  and  proceeded  to  Holy  Orders.  He  was 
appointed  to  the  benefice  of  Llanfair  C.E.  in  1636,3  and  remained 
there  until  1650,  when  he  was  deprived  by  the  Welsh  Commis- 
sioners. The  period  of  his  retirement  saw  the  publication  of  the 
two  original  works  which  he  contributed  to  Welsh  literature,  viz., 
Testun  y  Testament  Newydd  in  1653,  and  Perl  y  Cymro  :  neu 
Cofiadur y  Beibl  .  .  ,  1655.  Both  books  are  summaries  of  the 
contents  of  the  Bible  in  free  metric  form,  and  are  of  sufficient 
interest  to  merit  more  detailed  attention.  The  full  title  of  the 
former  is  : 

lAtk\    Oxon:   ii.,   2nd    Edit.,    1721.    columns   165,    166.       2Cakmy's 
Account,  2nd  Edit.,  ii.,  p.  844.     3  7'AotHas,  Esgebaeth  Llamlwy^  p.  754. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Testun  Testament  |  newydd  ein  Harglwydd  a'n  Jachawdwr  | 
Jesu  Grist,  |  Yn  Benhillion  Cymraeg  mewn  Egwy-  |  ddoraidd 
drefn,  a  osodvvyd  allan  trwy  lafur  |  J?t.  Jones  6  Lanfair  yn-Ghaer 
Eingnion  j  yn  Sir  Drefaldwyn  gweinidog  gair  Duw,  |  ac  Athro  yn 
y  Celfyddydau.  |  Fo  chwanegwyd  atto  Epitome  6  Lyfr  cyntaf  | 
Moses  yr  hwn  a  elwir  Genesis.  |  Non  est  mortale  quod  opto.  \ 
Nid  marwol  beth  yr  wy  i'n  ei  geisio.  |  [Jo.  5.  39  quoted.]  Ai 
Printio,  Yn  Llundain,  ag  iw  werthu  gan  John  Brown  tan  y  fesen 
eurad  yn  mon-wynt  |  Paul.  MDCLIII." 

A  Welsh  alphabet  follows,  and  a  letter  "  At  yr  Enwog  urdd- 
asol  Bendefig  Edward  Vaughan  6  Lwydiart  Esq."  The  letter 
At  y  Darlleydd,  which  comes  next,  is  full  of  interest,  for  it 
gives  the  author's  reason  for  undertaking  the  work :  "  Gan  ddarfod 
im  Harglwydd  am  Duw  ymweled  am  fi  (ymysc  eraill  om  Brodyr) 
a  dadol  gerydd  yn  gyfiawn  am  fy  meiau,  fy  nifuddio  6  ran  etifedd- 
iaeth  plant  Lefi  ....  am  gwahardd  i  ddilin  swydd  fyngalwedig- 
aeth,  Myfi  un  6  rhai  gwaelaf  yngweinidogaeth  yr  Efengyl  rhag  fy 
nghyfrif  yn  ail  i'r  gwas  diog  difudd  a  guddiodd  ei  Dalent  ....  a 

ryfygais  gymmeryd  hyn  6  dasc  yn  Haw Mi  a  gymhwysais 

Bennill  Cymraeg  am  bob  penned  mewn  mesur  cyffredinol,  mal  y 
galleu  y  sawl  a  ewyllysiant  yn  hawsach  ei  ddyscu,  ai  gofio  .  .  .  .  i 
ymarfer  a  geiriau  y  Scrythur  Ian,  yn  lie  ofer,  wag  ganniadau  bydol, 
difuddiol  i  iechadwriaeth  eu  heneidiau  ....  Nid  yw  hyn  o  lyfr, 
ond  bychan ;  ag  etto,  os  gwnei  y  goreu  6  hono,  fe  ddichon  fod  i 
ti  yn  Berl  gwerthfawr  ....  Mnemosynon  yw,  peth,  trwy  ychydig 
boen,  neu  yn  hytrach  bleser  y  cei  di  lawer  6  ddifeinyddiol  wybod- 
aeth." 

The  author's  plan,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  above  letter  to 
the  Reader,  was  to  epitomise  each  chapter  in  the  New  Testament 
into  a  single  stanza  ;  for  instance  (to  take  a  well-known  chapter), 
the  tenth  of  St.  John  is  thus  epitomised  : 

Mud  fugail  lladd  l-io  Christ  ydyvv'r  ffyddlon  II 
Mab  Duw  5.  nis  creda  yr  Iddewon  26 
Un  yw  ar  Tad  30  ei  ladd  rhai  n  ceisio  31-39 
Ciliodd  40  llawer  credodd  ynddo  42. 

The  numerals  refer  to  the  verses  in  this  particular  chapter, 
168 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Richard  Jones'  other  work,  Perl  y  Cymro :  neu  Cofiadur y 
Beibl,  was  published  in  1655.  It  has  three  title-pages,  English, 
Welsh,  and  Latin.  The  first  reads  :  "  The  British  Gemm  ;  or  an 
Abstract  of  the  Bible  Digested  into  Cambrian  Metricall 
Numbers,  so  methodically  that  one  may  quickly  pass  through  the 
whole  Body  of  Scripture  and  retain  the  substance  thereof  with 
much  advantage  to  memory.  Directions  also  whereby  any 
English  gentleman,  or  other,  may  speedily  learn  to  read  the  same, 
or  any  other  Tract  in  the  British  Language.  By  Richard  Jones, 
Master  of  Arts  and  Minister  of  the  Gospel.  London.  Printed 
by  T.  H.  at  the  authors  charge  and  are  to  be  sold  by  E.  Brewster 
at  the  Crane  in  Pauls  Churchyard  1655." 

The  Welsh  title  reads  :  "  Perl  y  Cymro  neu  Cofiadur  y  Beibl 
ar  fesurau  Psalmau  Dafydd  yn  drefnus  wedi  gyfansoddi,  mal  y 
gellir  ar  fyrr  o  amser  gofio  y  pyngciau  pennaf  o'r  Ysgrythyr  Ian  : 
Trwy  waith  a  llafur  R.  J.  Chwiliwch  yr  Scrythyrau,  Jo.  5,  37. 
Clodforaf  di,  O  Arglwydd,  ym  mysc  y  bobloedd,  Canmolaf  di  im 
mysc  y  cenhedloedd.  Ps.  57.  9.  Moliant  lehofa  a  gan  Richard 
Jones.  Printiedig  yn-Ghaer  Ludd  gan  T,  H.  ar  gost  yr  Awdur, 
ac  ydynt  i  werth  gan  E.  Brewster  tan  Arwydd  y  Garan  ym 
mynwent  Paul  1655." 

And  the  Latin  title  reads  :  "  Gemma  Cambri :  Seu  Mne- 
monica  Bibliorum  Carmine  Britannico  ita  Concinnata,  ut  intra 
pauculos  menses  Sacrarum  Literarum  flores  memoria  teneat  pius 
Lector.  Opera  &  studio  Rich  :  Jonesii  A.M.  [Jo.  5.  39  quoted 
in  Greek  and  Ps.  57.  9  in  Hebrew]  London,  Typis  T.  H. 
impensis  Authoris  &c.  Extant  apud  Edwardum  Brewster,  sub 
insigne  Gruis  in  Cemeterio  Paulino,  1655."  This  Latin  title-page 
is  dedicated  to  "Johanni  Owen.  S.S.  Theologise  doctor  uni 

Senatorum  Angliae  &c Tuus  humilimus,  In  Christo 

Ministerio  Indiginisimus  Servus  Ri :  Jonesius."  (Dr.  John  Owen 
was  bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  1629-51,  and  had  presented  Richard 
Jones  to  Llanfair  C.E.) 

Then  follow  directions  for  the  industrious  learner  to  read  and 
pronounce  the  British  language ;  a  letter  to  the  Reader,  which  is 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

signed  Ri :  Jones,  and  dated  Kalend  Awst,  1655 ;  a  commenda- 
tory letter  by  James  Howell  "to  my  reverend  and  learned 
countryman ;"  Encomiasticks  on  the  author  and  his  book  [by] 
Mi:  Roberts  S.T.D. ;  '  To  the  Printer'  by  Theod.  Wynne  and 
Sydnaeus  Ellis ;  to  the  author  by  Maurice  Morgan ;  At  yr 
Awdur  ai  waith  [gan]  Jo.  Wynne  G.  yr  Efengyl :  Achrosticon 
Gymraeg  [gan]  Jo.  Richard  V.D.M.,  and  "  Odl  i  gofio  llyfrau'r  Hen 
Destament."  The  text  occupies  pages  1-140,  and  on  page  141  is 
a  poem  entitled  The  Author's  Son's  Vision,  signed  Ed.  Jones. 
Pages  143-4,  which  end  the  book,  contain  Rhan  or  119  Psalm. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Commissioners,  July  17,  1650,  the  fifths 
of  the  parish  of  Llanfair  Caereinion  were  granted  to  the  wife  and 
children  of  Richard  Jones,1  after  his  deprivation  of  that  living,  in 
the  same  year.2  Our  author  must  have  died  at  the  end  of  1655 
or  the  beginning  of  1656,  because  his  son  in  the  above  mentioned 
Vision,  which  appears  at  the  end  of  the  book,  writes  : 

Behold  !  me  thinks  I  see  sad  objects  all 
Men-like  in  sable  mourning  clad  :  they  call. 
And  say,  be  gone,  thy  aged  Father's  dead 
Thy  patient  mother  mov'd  with  passion  led 
Bewails  her  husbands  death,  her  children  stand 
About  her  seven  condole  ;  put  to  thy  hand, 
Make  up  the  eighth,  and  fitting  things  prepare 
To  solemnise  his  Funeral  Rites  ;  that  are 
Emblems  of  love,  and  duties  to  the  dead, 
And  let  him  sleep  awhile  in  earthly  bed. 

It  is  evident  from  this  that  Richard  Jones  of  Llanfair  Caereinion 
died  before  his  last  work  Perly  Cymro  was  issued  from  the  press. 
We  now  proceed  to  mention  the  works  of  his  namesake, 
Richard  Jones  of  Denbigh,  who  was  born  at  Llansannan  in 
1604,  educated  at  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated 
B.A.  in  1628-9,  and  M.A.  in  1633.3  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Trustees  for  the  Maintenance  of  Ministers  under  Cromwell  school- 
master of  the  Free  School  at  Denbigh,  a  post  which  he  held  till 
his  death,  in  1673.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  learning  and 
noted  piety,  and  Welsh  literature  is  indebted  to  him  for  four 

1  Rawlinson  MS.  C.   261,  under  that   date  (Bodleian   Library,   Oxford), 
2 The  record  exists  in  the  same  MS.     5 Alumni  Oxotiienses. 

I70 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

translations,  three  of  them  the  work  of  Baxter,  and  the  other  the 
work  of  Gouge.  His.  writings  appeared  after  the  death  of  his 
namesake,  for  the  first  of  them  is  dated  1659.  It  is  a  translation 
into  excellent  Welsh  of  Baxter's  Call  to  the  Unconverted,  and  its 
Welsh  title  is  Galwad  fr  Annychweledig,  printed  in  London, 
1659.  Another  book  by  Baxter  entitled  A  Winding  Sheet  for 
Popery  was  translated  and  published  in  1672,  under  the  title, 
"  Amdo  i  Babyddiaeth,  o  waith  Richard  Baxter,  Catholic.  Print- 
iedigyn  Llundain  gan  J.D.  dros  Edward  Brewster,  1672."  He 
also  translated  for  Gouge  his  Christian  Directions  to  walk  with 
God,  which  was  issued  in  1675,  at  Gouge's  expense,  under  the 
title  ffyfforddiadau  Christianogol,  printed  in  London.  His  fourth 
and  last  work  was  his  translation  of  Baxter's  Now  or  Never,  which 
was  published  in  1677  under  the  title  Bellach  neu  Byth.  Calamy 
states  that  Richard  Jones  died  on  August  i5th,  1673,  at  Denbigh.1 
A  book  entitled  "  Defosiwnau  priod,  Printiedig  yn  Llundain, 
i  Richard  Harriot,  ym  monwent  Eglwys  St.  Dunstan,  1655," 
appeared  in  1655-6.  It  has  a  fuller  title,  viz.,  "  Defosiwn  priod, 
Wedi  ei  cymhwyso  i  bum  rhan  gweddi :  sef  i.  Cyffes.  ii.  Rhag- 
ddeisyfiad.  iii.  Deisyfiad.  iv.  Talu-diolch.  v.  Erfyniad.  Ac 
Arch  arbenig  tros  y  claf.  A  Chynghorieu  a  gweddiau  ar  ddydd 
yr  Arglwydd,  o  flaen  Cymmun,  erbyn  dydd  marwolaeth,  a  dydd  y 
farn.  A  Dwy  weddi  beunyddiol,  sef  boreuol  a  phrydnhawnol : 
Wedi  ei  cyfiaethu  yn  Gymraec,  Trwy  waith  W.  L.  M.  A.  Rhuf.  ii. 
14.  Llundain  [by  the  same  Printers]  1656." 

There  is  a   Latin   dedication  to  this  work  by  "G.  L."   to 
Thomas  Myddleton,  and  Latin  lines  to  the  author,  Dr.  Valentine,  by 
"  R.  E.  M.  A.  Oxon.,  J.  B.  M.  A.  Oxon.,  and  D.  T.  M.  A.  Oxon." 
It  is  only  a  small  book  of  33  pages,  and  Dr.  Valentine,  the 
original  author,  was  minister  of  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  in  Buckingham- 
shire, in  the  time  of  Charles  I.     The  translator  is  said  by  Gwilym 
Lleyn2  to  have  been  John  Owen,  an  Anglesey  man,  but  it  is  hard 
to  say  how  he  makes  this  correspond  with  the  title-page,  which 
definitely  states  that  it  was  translated  by  W.  L.  M.  A.     The  author 
1  Calamy's  Account,  &c.}  2nd  Edit.,  vol.  ii.  p.  844.  2  Llyf,  y  Cymry,  p.  169- 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

was  evidently  an  Oxford  man,  and  three  others  of  that  University 
gave  their  benison  to  the  work  by  writing  Latin  lines  in  its  com- 
mendation, which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  W.  L.  was  a  man 
of  some  standing  at  the  University.  In  Foster's  Alumni  Oxonienses 
is  the  record  of  one  William  Lewys  from  Co.  Merioneth,  of  Hart 
Hall,  B.A.  1608  ;  Fellow  of  Oriel,  1608;  M.A.  1612  ;  Provost  of 
Oriel,  1617-21  ;J  D.D.  1627.  From  1627-43  he  was  master  of 
the  Hospital  of  St.  Cross,  which  was  a  Church  appointment,  and 
again  after  the  Restoration,  1660  to  1667,  the  year  of  his  death. 

The  hiatus  1643-1660  is  explained  thus  in  the  Alumni: 
"  He  lost  these  preferments  in  the  time  of  the  Rebellion,  and  fled 
beyond  seas,  but  was  restored  on  his  Majesty's  return,  and  died  in 
the  hospital  of  St.  Cross,  1667."  William  Lewys'  deprivation  is 
also  mentioned  by  Walker  in  his  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  where  he 
is  stated  to  have  been  made  Prebend  of  Winchester  after  the 
Restoration.  Under  the  Commonwealth,  the  estate  of  one, 
Dr.  William  Lewis,  of  Llanwyvy  [Llanddwywe]  in  Merionethshire, 
was  declared  forfeited  for  treason  by  an  act  of  Nov.  18,  i652.2 

Although  there  is  no  sure  ground  of  proof,  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  William  Lewys,  Fellow  and  Provost  of  Oriel,  was  responsible 
for  this  little  work.  It  would  explain  the  interest  taken  in  it  by 
other  members  of  the  University,  and  it  may  be  that  his  depriva- 
tion and  exile  had  turned  his  mind,  as  it  did  that  of  so  many 
others,  to  the  publication  of  devotional  literature  which  would 
benefit  his  countrymen. 

In  1657  appeared  "  Cerbyd  Jechydwriaeth.  Neu  Prif 
Byngciau  Crefydd  Gristonogawl  wedi  eu  egluro  a'u  gosod  allan. 
i.  Yn  gyntaf,  mewn  Sententiau  a  Rheolau  awdyrdodol.  2.  Yn 
nesaf,  mewn  cyd-ymddiddan  trwy  ymholion  ac  attebion.  Print- 
iedig  yn-ninas  Llundain,  gan  Sarah  Griffin,  dros  Philip  Chetwind, 

1657." 

1  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Ckrgy,  ii.  p.  77,  states  that  he  was  advanced 
to  this  post  by  a  party  of  his  own  coun  rymen.  and  afterwards  forced  to  resign, 
"  being  too  young  for  that  office,"  and  then  tc  have  gone  beyond  the  seas  in 
the  King's  service.  He  took  oart  will.  Buckiagham  in  the  ill-fated  expedi- 
tion against  Rochelle,  and  afterwards  suffered  much  for  the  Royal  cause,  and 
by  his  sons  joining  the  Church  of  Rome.  2  ibid. 
172 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

The  author  was  Thomas  Powel,  D.D.,  son  of  John 
Powel,  rector  of  Cantref,  in  the  county  of  Brecon,  where  he  was 
born  in  1608.  He  went  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1625,  was 
elected  Scholar  in  1627,  and  afterwards  fellow  of  the  same 
College.  He  took  Holy  Orders,  and  became  rector  of  Cantref  in 
1635.  Wood  states  that  he  suffered  much  during  the  Civil  Wars, 
his  living  was  sequestrated,  and  he  fled  over  seas.1  On  the 
return  of  Charles  II.,  he  was  restored  to  his  benefice,  became 
a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  Canon  of  St.  David's.  He  died 
Dec.  3ist,  1660,  and  was  buried  at  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West, 
Fleet  St.,  London.  He  was  author  of  several  works  which  are 
mentioned  by  Wood,  but  this  was  his  only  Welsh  production,  and 
is  a  small  work  of  39  pages.  It  consists  of  some  Annotations 
which  appear  at  the  latter  end  of  his  book  "  Quadriga  Salutis  : 
or,  the  four  general  Heads  of  Christian  Religion  surveyed  and 
explained.  London,  1657."  Octavo. 

Powel  is  described  in  the  History  of  Oxford  Writers  as  "  a 
Person  well  vers'd  in  several  sorts  of  Learning,  was  an  able 
Philosopher,  a  curious  Critic,  was  well  skill'd  in  various 
Languages,  and  not  to  be  contemn'd  for  his  knowledge  in 
Divinity."  2 

His  first  work,  Elementa  Opticce,  published  in  London,  1651, 
was  "  commended  to  the  world  by  the  copies  of  verses  of  Olor 
Iscanus  and  Eugenius  Philalethes  his  Brother,"  3  both  of  them 
Breconshire  residents  and  natives.  He  also  translated  some 
works  from  Italian  into  English,  and  from  French  into  English. 
Wood  states  also  that  "he  left  behind  him  a  MS.  of  his  composi- 
tion unpublished,  entitled  Fragmenta  de  rebus  Britanniris — a 
short  account  of  the  Lives,  Manners,  and  Religion  of  the  British 
Druids  and  the  Bards,  £c." 

His  letter  preceding  Cerbyd  Jechydwriaeth,  "  At  fy  anwyl 
Gyd-wlad-wyr  y  Cymru,"  shows  that  he  could  write  fairly  good 
Welsh  prose,  as  the  following  quotation  illustrates : 

"  Pan  ddaeth  attal  a  rhwystr  arnom  i  bregethu'r  Efengyl  yn 

lAtAen:  Oxon:  ii.,  p.  254.     aibid.     3  ibid. 

173 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

eich  plith,  yr  oeddem  yn  byrw  am  wneuthur  daioni  i  chwi,  y  modd 
goreu  ac  y  gallem  er  na  allem  eu  wneuthur  y  modd  goreu  ac  y 
dymunem.  Pan  y  gostegwyd  y  tafod,  yr  hwn  oedd  (umvaith)  fel 
pin  Sgrifennydd  buan,  rhaid  oedd  i  wneuthur  y  pin  scryfen  i 
wasanaethu  yn  lle'r  tafod,  i  beri'r  Haw  i  efengylu  yn  lle'r  geneu, 
ac  i  Scryfennu  attoch  y  pethau  nid  oedd  rydd  i  lefaru  wrthych. 
Dyma'r  achos  y  danfonnwyd  y  Traethiad  byr  hwn  yn  eich  mysc, 
sef  i  gyfarwyddo  rhai,  ac  i  gynnal  eraill  yn  yr  iniawn  ffordd,  a'r 
gowir  ffydd."  x 

Elis  Lewis  of  Llwyngwern,  in  Merionethshire,  was  a 
gentleman  of  culture  who,  at  the  request  of  Mrs.  Catherine  Anwyl, 
of  Park,  Llanfrothen,  translated  Drexelius'  work  On  Eternity  into 
simple  and  clear  Welsh  prose,  under  the  title  Ystyriaethau  Drexelius 
ar  Dragywyddoldeb,  published  in  1661.  He  says  in  the  preface 
that  Oxford  scholars  had  "  edited  and  corrected "  his  little  book 
for  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  A  number  of  englynion 
precedes  the  work,  written  in  praise  of  the  book  and  its  translator, 
by  "  John  Vaughan,  Elis  Anwyl,  Wiliam  Phylipp,  Gruffydd  Phylip, 
and  Edward  Morris,"  which  is  a  proof  that  Elis  Lewis  was  well 
known  to  the  leading  bards  of  his  day  in  Gwynedd.2  The  book 
is  dedicated  "  I'r  Ddiwair  a'r  rinweddol  bendefiges,  Mrs.  Catherin 
Anwyl  unig  ferch  Sir  John  Owen  o'r  Clenenau,  a  chywely  yn 
ddiweddar  i'r  Urddasol  Esq.,  Mr.  Robert  Anwyl  o'r  Pare,  yr  hwn 
a  alwodd  Duw  am  dano."  Very  little  is  known  of  the  translator, 
but  he  was  a  good  WTelsh  writer,  and  the  book  contains  passages 
of  great  beauty. 

Its  full  title  is  :  "  Ystyriaethau  Drexelius  ar  Dragywyddoldeb. 
Gwedi  ei  gyfieithu  yn  gyntaf  yn  Saesonaeg  gan  Dr.  R.  Winterton, 
ac  yr  awr- hon  yn  Gymraeg  gan  Elis  Lewis,  o'r  Llwyn-gwern,  yn 
sir  Feirion,  Wr-  bonheddig.  Printiedig  yn  Rhydychen  gan  Hen. 
Hall,  tros  Rich.  Davies,  ac  a  werthir  yn  ei  shop  ef  yn  heol  St. 
Mair,  yn  ymyl  Oriel  Col.  1661."  It  contains  377  pages  of  text, 
and  on  the  last  page  is  printed  :  "  Ar  Dragywyddoldeb  nid  oes 
un  Terfyn."  Then  follows  a  page  of  corrigenda,  and  14  pages 
1  Charles  Ashton's  Hanes  Lien,  Gymrel^  p.  51.  2ibid,  p.  55. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

containing  prayers.  The  preface,  which  is  rather  long,  takes  up 
36  pages,  and  the  whole  work  is  a  very  neat  little  volume  of  428 
pages.  It  contains  nine  meditations,  each  dealt  with  in  three 
chapters.  The  subjects  of  meditation  are :  i.  What  eternity  is. 
ii.  How  Nature  presents  the  truth  to  us.  iii.  How  the  Romans 
chiefly  prepared  for  it.  iv.  How  David  meditated  upon  it,  and 
how  we  should,  v.  How  others,  even  evil-doers,  meditate  upon  it. 
vi.  How  Holy  Scriptures  teach  us  to  ponder  it.  vii.  How  Christians 
depict  it.  viii.  How  Christians  should  inwardly  examine  themselves 
concerning  it.  ix.  The  seven  purposes  of  these  meditations  on 
Eternity. 

Dr.  Edward  Wynn  (?-i669),  the  son  and  last  heir  male 
of  Bodewryd,  Anglesey,  contributed  to  Welsh  literature  in  1662  a 
work  entitled  :  "  Trefn  Ymanveddiad  y  Gwir  Gristion,  neu  Lwybr 
hyffordd  i'r  Cymro  i  rodio  arno  beunydd  gyda  Duw.  Gan  Edward 
Wynn,  D.D.  Llundain,  1662."  The  author  had  been  educated 
at  Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  M.A.  and  D.D. 
In  1644,  he  was  presented  by  his  uncle,  Bishop  Owen  of  St. 
Asaph,  to  the  living  of  Llanymawddwy,  in  Merionethshire,  on  the 
death  of  Dr.  Davies  of  Mallwyd,  whom  he  had  served  as  curate, 
and  whose  widow  he  subsequently  married.  Dr.  Edward  Wynn 
was  also  grandson  to  Bishop  Robert  Morgan,  of  Bangor.  He 
held  various  livings  in  St.  Asaph  and  Bangor,  of  which  he  was 
deprived  in  1650- 1.1  But  after  the  Restoration  he  became 
Rector  of  Llanllechid,  in  1662  ;  Canon  of  St.  Asaph,  and  Chan- 
cellor of  Bangor.  He  also  had  the  livings  of  Llanarmon  and 
Llangeinwen.  In  1668  he  was  appointed  to  Llaneugrad,  Anglesey. 
He  died  December  lyth,  1669,  and  was  buried  at  Llangaffo,  in 
Anglesey.  He  is  mentioned  as  having  subscribed  ^50  to  the 
fund  for  improving  Bangor  Cathedral,  and  was  also  an  ardent 
educationalist,  as  instanced  in  his  founding  of  a  school  at  Holy- 
head,  and  of  a  bursary  of  ^6  per  annum  at  Jesus  College.,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  himself  had  been  educated. 

1  The  following  entry  occurs  in  the  Account  of  the  Administration  of  the 
Act  for  the  Propagation,  &c.  in  North  Wales  (Cardiff,  1908,  p.  29)  :  "  Mr. 
Edward  Wynne,  Rector  of  Llanymouthwy,  ejected  then  for  scandall,"  i.e.,  at 
Welshpool,  on  June  i8th,  1651. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  one  book  he  published  was 
an  original  work,  and  not  a  translation.  It  is  prefaced  by  an 
address  to  the  parishioners  of  Llangeinwen  and  Llangaffo.  A 
second  edition  of  it  was  issued  in  17 23 -4.' 

The  next  writer  in  order  of  date  is  Rondl  Davies  or 
•Randolph  Davies  (?-  1695),  M.A.,  who  was  collated  Vicar  of 
Meifod  and  Sinecure  Rector  of  Cwm  by  Bishop  George  Griffith, 
in  i66i.2  This  collation  must  refer  to  his  reinstatement  after  the 
Restoration,  for  he  had  previously  held  the  vicarage  of  Meifod. 
His  marriage  is  chronicled  in  the  registers  of  that  parish  in  1648, 
and  in  the  entry  he  is  stated  to  be  vicar  of  the  parish.  It  runs  as 
follows:  "  Matrimonium  legitimum  contrat.  fuit  inter  Randolphum 
Davies  vicarium  hujus  parochias  et  Mariam  filiam  Johannis 
Williams  clerici,  10°  die  Junii,  1648."  The  same  registers  contain 
the  baptismal  entries  of  several  of  his  children  born  between  1649 
and  1666,  for  instance,  "Johannes  filius  Randolphi  Davies 
Vicarii  hujus  parochige  baptiz.  fuit  8°  Julii,  1651."  Archdeacon 
Thomas  states  that  he  was  deprived  by  the  Parliamentary 
sequestrators,^  and  mentions  that  one,  Stephen  Lewis,  M.A.,  was 
put  into  that  parish  as  vicar  of  Meifod  in  1649,  and  that  there  is 
a  great  difference  in  the  style  and  spelling  in  the  registers  as  from 
that  date.  This  is  supported  by  the  record  in  the  Alumni 
Oxonicnses,  which  gives  Stephen  Lewis  as  Vicar  of  Meifod,  1649. 
These  statements  are  very  hard  to  reconcile,  unless  it  is  that 
Randolph  Davies  continued  to  reside  in  the  parish  after  his 
sequestration,  and  was  allowed  out  of  courtesy  to  use  his  former 
title. 

Rowlands'  Cambrian  Bibliography  attributes  to  him  part 
authorship  in  a  book  reputed  to  have  been  published  in  1660, 
under  the  title  "  Cowir  a  ffyddlon  ateb  i  Lyfr  a  enwir  ychydig 
Gyfarwyddiadau  i'r  Cymru  yn  erbyn  y  Cyfeiliorni  sydd  yn  mysg  y 
bobl  a  elwir  Cwacers,  yn  yr  hon  y  mae  yr  awdwr  di  henw  yn 
dangos  i  yspryd  maleusus  a  chenfigenus  yn  erbyn  pobl  Dduw. 
1  Manual  of  W.  Lit.,  p.  165  ;  C.  Ash  ton  Hanes  Lien.  Gymreig,  p.  57  ; 
Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  189.  'Edwards'  Edn.  of  Brown  Willis'  Survey  of  St. 
Asaph,  ii.,  pp.  268,  393.  3  Hist,  of  Diocese  of  St.  Asafh,  ii,,  p.  50. 

I76 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL  WRITINGS 

Gyda  gwahoddiad  i'r  Cymru  truain  fel  y  byddo  yddynt  uno 
goleini  Crist  oddimewn  uddynt,  a  rhodio  yntho.  Oddiwrthym  ni, 
y  rhai  mae  y  byd  drygionus  mewn  gwawd  yn  i  galw  Cwacers. 
Chandler,  &  Crook,  &  Rondl  Davies,  &  Evans.  London."  From 
this  it  would  appear  that  Rondl  Davies  favoured  the  Quakers, 
and  was  himself  a  Quaker,  but  this  is  altogether  inconsistent  with 
the  'attitude  he  adopts  towards  the  Quakers  and  others  in  a  work 
published  by  him  in  1675,  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  is  the  author.  It  has  two  title-pages,  the  first  in  English,  the 
second  in  Welsh,  as  follows  : 

"  A  Tryall  of  the  Spirits,  or  a  Discovery  of  False  Prophets, 
and  a  Caveat  to  beware  of  them ;  or  a  Short  Treatise  on  i  John 
iv.,  i.  Wherein  is  discovered,  by  the  light  of  God's  Word, 
expounded  by  antiquity,  that  several  Doctrines  of  the  Papists, 
Presbyterians,  Independents,  and  Quakers,  are  disagreeable  to  the 
Holy  Scripture,  and  carefully  to  be  avoided  by  every  man  that 
loves  the  Salvation  of  his  Soul.  Pro  Ecclesia  clamitant,  et  co?itra 
Ecclesiam  dimicant.  Cypr." 

"  Profiad  yr  Ysprydion,  neu  Ddatcuddiad  Gau  Athrawon,  a 
Rhybudd  i'w  gochelyd.  Neu  Draethawd  byrr  ar  i  St.  Jo.  4.  i. 
O  waith  Rondl  Davies,  Meistr  yn  y  Celfyddydau,  a  Ficar  Meifod. 
Ym  mha  un  y  Datcuddir  drwy  oleini  Gair  Duw,  Esboniedig  gan 
hynafiaeth,  fod  amryw  athrawiaethau  y  Pabistiaid,  y  Presbyteriaid, 
yr  Independentiaid,  a'r  Cwaceriaid,  yn  anghysson  a'r  Yscrythyr 
Lan,  ac  o  herwydd  hynny  i'w  gochelyd  gan  bob  dyn  sydd  yn  caru 
lechydwriaeth  ei  enaid.  Rhydychen.  Printiedig  gan  H.  Hal!, 
ym  mlwyddyn  yr  Arglwydd  1675. >Jt 

Gwallter  Mechain  relates  a  story  which  throws  light  on  the 
condition  of  the  parish  of  Meifod  during  Rondl  Davies'  incum- 
bency.2 The  Quakers  had  gained  ground  there  considerably,  and 
there  was  a  Quaker  chapel  at  Coed  Cowryd,  near  Dolobran. 
Richard  Davies,  of  Cloddiau  Cochion,  in  the  parish  of  Llanfyllin, 
Charles  Thomas,  and  Samuel  Lloyd,  of  Dolobran,  were  pillars  in 
the  Quaker  cause  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood.  A  writer  in 
1  Llyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  203.  2  Givaith  Gwallter  Mechain,  iii.,  p.  103. 

177 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  Cambrian  Quarterly  Magazine  (vol.  i.,  p.  325)  states  that 
"  during  his  incumbency  Quakerism  had  made  a  considerable 
schism  in  his  fold."  So  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  Rondl 
Davies  would  be  much  concerned  at  the  spread  of  what  he  clearly 
regarded  as  erroneous  doctrine,  and  this  book  would  be  the  out- 
come of  his  cogitations  on  the  matter.  This  makes  it  all  the 
more  unlikely  that  he  could  have  had  any  part  in  the  production 
of  the  publication  purported  to  have  appeared  in  1660. 

His  book  Profiad  yr  Ysprydion  is  dedicated  to  Edward 
Vaughan,  Esq.,  of  Llwydiarth.  It  contains  14  pages  of  preface, 
2 37  pages  of  text,  and  seven  pages  at  the  end  which  contain  short 
addresses  in  Latin  to  the  author,  and  also  a  French  ode  to  the 
same. 

The  entry  of  his  death  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Cambrian 
Quarterly  Magazine  :  "  Dom  Ranulphus  Davies  Cler  de  Peniarth 
Sepultus  25°  Feb.  1695."  x 

James  Owen  was  the  author  of  two  original  works  in 
Welsh,  published  towards  the  end  of  the  century ;  Trugaredd  a 
Barn  which  appeared  in  1687,  and  became  very  popular,  and  a 
less  known  work  entitled  Bedydd  Plant  o'r  Nefoedd,  published  in 
1693.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Owen  of  Bryn,  in  the  parish 
of  Abernant,  near  Carmarthen,  the  birth  place  of  James  Howell. 
He  was  born  in  1654,  and  educated  first  in  a  school  kept  by 
James  Picton,  a  Quaker,  who  grounded  him  in  classics,  and  after- 
wards at  the  Grammar  School  of  his  native  town.  Instead  of 
proceeding  to  Oxford,  having  leanings  towards  Nonconformity, 
he  went  in  1672  to  a  small  seminary  kept  by  one  Samuel  Jones, 
Bryn  Llwyarch,  Llangymvyd,  Glamorganshire,  where  he  remained 
four  years,  and  made  great  progress  in  languages.2  Afterwards 
he  returned  home  and  established  a  school  in  Carmarthen.  He 
began  his  ministerial  career  as  an  auxiliary  to  Stephen  Hughes  at 
Swansea,  but  under  the  influence  of  Henry  Maurice,  a  native  of 
Lleyn  in  Carnarvonshire,  he  was  persuaded  to  undertake  work  at 
Bodfel,  near  Pwllheli,  where,  after  nine  months,  his  position 

1  Vol.  5.,  p.  325.     »  Uyfr.  y  Cymry,  p.  237. 
I78 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

became  very  difficult,  and  he  dared  not  stir  from  his  house. 
Escaping  thence,  he  came  to  Bron-y-Clydwr,  in  Merionethshire, 
and  was  welcomed  there  by  Hugh  Owen,  a  Nonconformist 
preacher  of  some  note.  In  1676  he  was  invited  to  become 
chaplain  to  Mrs.  Baker,  at  Swinney,  near  Oswestry.  He  often 
suffered  persecution  and  was  once  imprisoned  at  Caerwys  in 
Flintshire,  but  was  released  on  appeal.  In  1679  he  married  an 
Oswestry  lady  and  removed  there,  and  was  granted  a  licence  to 
preach  in  that  town  by  the  Court  at  Denbigh.  While  at  Oswestry 
he  had  a  public  discussion  with  Dr.  William  Lloyd,  Bishop  of 
St.  Asaph,  on  the  necessity  or  otherwise  of  Episcopal  Orders,  on 
Sept.  27th,  1681.  The  learned  Henry.  Dodwell  took  part  with 
the  Bishop,  and  Philip  Henry,  of  Broad  Oak,  and  Jonathan 
Roberts,  of  Llanfair,  with  James  Owen.1  A  large  number  of  the 
neighbouring  gentry  and  others  assembled  to  hear  the  debate, 
which  lasted  for  six  hours,  and  good  temper  was  shown  on  both 
sides. 

James  Owen,  after  starting  an  academy  for  ministerial 
students  at  Oswestry,  sometime  afterwards  removed  to  Shrews- 
bury, and  continued  his  school  there  from  1700  to  1706,  during 
which  time  he  was  also  minister  of  High  Street  Chapel  in  that 
town.  He  died  in  r7o6  at  the  age  of  52,  and  was  buried  in 
St.  Chad's  Church,  Shrewsbury.2  His  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
by  the  celebrated  Matthew  Henry.  His  brother,  Charles  Owen> 
wrote  his  biography  in  English,  and  published  it  in  1709. 

James  Owen  was  the  author  of  a  considerable  number  of 
English  publications,  but  his  Welsh  writings  were  few.  The  full 
title  of  his  chief  work  is  : 

"  Trugaredd  a  Barn  neu  yn  agos  i  Drichant  o  Siarhpleu 
rhyfeddol  o  farnedigaethau  Du\v  ar  yr  Annuwiol,  Ac  o  drugaredd- 
au  nodedig  i'r  Duwiol,  mewn  amryw  wledydd  ac  oesoedd ;  Gyda 
llawer  o  Ystorieu  buddiol  eraill,  wedi  eu  casglu  allan  o  Ysgrifen- 
iadau  gwyr  Dysgedig : 

1  Hancs  Llenyddiaeth  Gymrtig  (C.  Ashlon),  p.  79.  3  Gu<yddoniadur 
(Tpi.,  pp.  166  -  169.  See  also  article  in  £>>  N.  2», 


WALES  IN   THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Er  dychryn  i'r  Drygionus, 

Er  cyssur  i'r  Daionus, 

Ac  er  rhybudd  i  Bawb. 

Argraphwyd  yn  y  Mwythig  gan  R.  Lathrop,  lie  y  gellir  cael  Printio 
pob  math  ar  Gopiau  am  bris  gweddaidd,  a  chael  ar  werth  amryw 
Lyfrau  Cymraeg  a  Saesnaeg." 

The  date  of  the  book  is  fixed  by  Stephen  Hughes  in  his 
preface  to  Taithy  Pererin,  London,  January  10,  i68|,  in  which 
he  mentions  Trugaredd  a  Barn  as  a  good  book,  "  yr  hwn  a  brinti- 
wyd  yr  /w/diweddaf." 

The  author  also  dates  his  letter  to  the  Reader,  "  Llundain, 
Mehefin  4ydd,  1687,"  and  signs  it  "  Dy  gydwladwr  J.  O."  The 
chief  criticism  directed  against  it  is  that  it  is  full  of  superstition. 
Gwallter  Mechain  referred  to  it  as  "  y  casgliad  ofergoelus  hwnnw."1 
About  1691  there  was  considerable  discussion  between  the 
Independents  and  the  Baptists  concerning  Infant  baptism.  John 
Jenkins,  Rhydwilym,  championed  adult  baptism,  and  Samuel 
Jones,  of  Bryn  Llywarch,  was  asked  to  reply  on  behalf  of  the 
Independents.  He  failed  to  comply,  and  his  place  was  taken  by 
his  former  pupil,  James  Owen,  who,  in  1693,  published  "  Bedydd 
Plant  OT  Nefoedd,  neu  Draethawd  ar  Natur  a  Diben  Bedydd. 
Yn  proii,  Trwy  ddeuddeg  o  Ressymau  Scrythuraidd  y  dylid 
bedyddio  plant  y  ffyddloniaid."  His  brother,  Charles  Owen, 
afterwards  translated  this  work  into  English,  under  the  title  : 
"  The  Infant's  Ark,  or  Infant  Baptism  proved  by  xn  Arguments, 
translated  out  of  the  British  tongue  by  Charles  Owen,  V.D.M." 

Benjamin  Keach  replied  to  James  Owen's  book,  and  his 
answer  was  translated  into  Welsh,  and  published  in  1696,  under 
the  title :  "  Goleuni  wedi  torri  allan  yng  Nghymru  .... 
Gan  gynnwys  atteb  i  Lyfr,  yr  hwn  a  elwir  Bedydd  Plant  o'r 
Nefoedd  ....  Ac  yn  profi  hefyd  mai  bedydd  yw  soddiad  yr  holl 
gorph  mewn  dwfr  .  .  .  .  ac  nad  yw  neb  yn  ddeiliaid  bedydd  ond 
y  Credadwy  yn  unig."  The  translator  is  thought  to  have  been 
Robert  Morgan,  of  Swansea,  a  friend  of  Benjamin  Keach.  James 

1  GwalUtr  Mcchain's  Works,  ii,,  p.  304, 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Owen's  Bedydd  Plant  o'r  Nefoedd  was  the  first  book  in  Welsh 
on  the  Baptist  controversy.1  His  other  works  are:  "A  Plea  for 
Scripture  Ordination,  1694;"  Tutamen  Evangelicum,  1697; 
"  Moderation  a  Virtue,"  1703  ;  "The  History  of  the  Consecration 
of  Altars,"  1706;  "  Vindiciae  Britannicae,"  1706.  He  also  trans- 
lated the  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism  into  Welsh  in 
1701,  and  supplied  Calamy  with  material  for  his  account  of  the 
Welsh  ejected  Divines. 

Hugh  Owen  (H.  O.),  of  Gwenynog,  Anglesey,  translated 
in  1684  the  Imitatio  Christi  of  Thomas  a  Kempis.  The  title- 
page  is  as  follows  : 

"Dilyniad  j  Christ  |  a  elwir  yn  gyffredin  |  Thomas  a  Kempis  | 
Gwedi  ei  gyfieithu  'n  Gymraec  ers  |  talm  o  amser  yn  ol 
Editiwn  ]  yr  Awdur  gan  |  Huw  Owen  |  Gwenynoc  ym  Mon, 
Esq.  |  ....  Llundain  |  Gwedi  ei  imprintio  ar  gost  I.  H.  | 

MDCLXXXIV." 

The  original  work  is  generally  attributed  to  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  but  there  are  different  opinions  as  to  its  authorship, 
Gerson  and  Walter  Hilton  both  being  mentioned,  amongst  others, 
as  possible  authors.  The  question  is  discussed  at  some  length  in 
J.  E.  G.  de  Montmorency's  "  Thomas  a  Kempis  :  His  Age  and 
Book,"  but  the  latest  researches  show  that  a  Kempis'  title  to  the 
authorship  is  at  least  as  clear  as  that  of  the  others  mentioned. 

Thomas  a  Kempis  was  born  in  1379,  at  Kempen,  near 
Cologne,  and  spent  most  of  his  life  in  seclusion  in  the  poor 
monastery  of  Mount  St.  Agnes,  near  Zwolle,  where  he  died  in 
1471,  having  composed  many  devotional  books.  Europe  was  full 
of  religious  strife  at  that  time,  and  a  rival  pope  had  been  set  up  at 
Avignon,  but  a  Kempis,  rapt  in  meditation,  was  undisturbed  by 
outward  happenings,  having  turned  his  back  not  only  on  the 
world  but  also  on  the  worldliness,  which,  at  that  time,  had  eaten 
into  the  life  of  the  Roman  Church. 

In  the  original  Latin,  this  work   was  metrical  in  form,  and, 
perhaps,  for  this  reason  it  was  at  first  generally  known  as  Musica 
'Z>.  N.  £. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Ecclesiastica.  A  metrical  translation  of  the  work  was  issued  in 
English  in  1889.  Hugh  Owen,  of  Gwenynog,  was  the  first  to 
translate  it  into  Welsh,  in  1684. 

The  editor  mentions  in  his  preface  three  translations,  the 
respective   work   of  the   Roman    priests,    Matthew    Turberville, 
Thomas  Jeffreys,  and   Huw  Parry,  but  as  far  as  is  known,   these 
are  not  now  extant,  and  it  is  stated  that  none   of  the  three  were 
published.     The  editor   of  this  first  translation  into  Welsh  was 
Father  John  Hughes,  who  was  born  in  Anglesey  in  1615,  and  died 
at  Holy  well  in  1686.     He  tells  us  in  the  preface  that  Hugh  Owen, 
the  translator,  was  owner  of  a  small  patrimony  in  Anglesey,  and 
afterwards   steward   on   the  Bodeon  Estate   in  Anglesey,    to  Sir 
Hugh  Owen,  and  was  a  man  much  respected  both  owing  to  his 
faithfulness  to  religion  and  his  diligence  in  improving  the  land. 
The  preface  further  states  that  he  translated  other  books,  and 
amongst  them  Llyfr  y  Resolusion,   thirty  years  before  Dr.  John 
Davies'  translation  appeared,  and  when  the  author  was  only  27 
years  old.     On  this  reckoning,   Hugh   Owen  was  born  c   1575. 
His  Dilyniad  Crist  is  a  book  of  xx. +  448  pages,   and  is  a  literal 
translation,  and  as  such  is   rather  cumbersome  and   lacking   in 
flexibility,  as  one  might  expect.     The  translation  of  W.  M.  A.  B., 
which   appeared  in     1723,     under    the   title   Pattnvm  y   Gwir 
Gristion :  neu  Ddilyn'ad  lesu   Grisf,    is  a  vast  improvement  on 
Hugh   Owen's   work.     Five  other  editions  have  since  appeared, 
viz.,  those  of  1829,    1859,  1872,   1905,  and   1908,  the  last  under 
the  editorship  of  the  Rev.  H.  Elvet  Lewis,  M.A.     Some  of  them 
bear  the  imprint,   after  the  name  of  the  translator  (Hugh  Owen) 
"  Gwenydog  ym  Mon  Esq.,"  and  "  Gweinydog  ym  Mon."     This 
is,  of  course,  a  mistake  for  Gwenynog,  the  name  of  his  residence, 
but  it  led  to  much  confusion.1 

One  of  the  most  eminent  and  industrious  literary  Welshmen 
of  the  seventeenth  century  was  Charles  Edwards  concerning 
whom,  unfortunately,  much  still  remains  to  be  discovered.  For 

J  See  Cymmrodorion  Transactions,  1897-8,  pp.  13,  14  :  and  Introduction 
to  the  1908  edn.  by  the  Rev.  H.  Elvet  Lewis, 

182 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

instance,  it  is  only  a  matter  of  conjecture  where  he  received  his 
early  education,  and  the  later  details  of  his  life  are  also  shrouded 
in  obscurity.  As  Mr.  Ivor  James  complained  in  his  article  in 
the  Traethodydd  (1886),  "  Y  mae  rhyw  gaddugwedi  ei  guddio  er 
ys  talm."  Mr.  R.  J.  Prys  puts  Charles  Edwards  in  the  same 
category  as  Bishop  Morgan,  Bishop  Davies,  Dr.  John  Davies  of 
Mallwyd,  and  Goronwy  Owen,  and  perhaps  this  estimate  as  to  his 
literary  ability  is  very  near  the  mark.  Such  details  of  his  life 
as  are  known  are  the  following  :  The  records  of  All  Soul's  College, 
Oxford,  state  that  he  was  entered  there  as  Bible  Clerk  in  1644,* 
aged  1 6,  which  gives  1628  as  the  year  of  his  birth.  His  father  is 
described  as  a  plebeian,  and  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been 
Robert  Edwards,  of  Cynlleth,  Rhydycroesau,  Denbighshire. 
Charles  Edwards  himself,  in  his  autobiography,  "An  afflicted 
man's  Testimony  concerning  his  Troubles,"  says  nothing  of  his 
father,  mother,  family  connections,  birthplace,  or  education,  but 
he  incidentally  mentions  that  he  studied  at  Oxford.  To  matri- 
culate at  the  University  at  16,  .meant  that  he  must  have  received 
a  good  early  education.  The  nearest  Grammar  School  to  Rhyd- 
ycroesau would  be  either  Ruthin  or  Oswestry,  but  it  would  be 
conjecture  only  to  state  that  he  went  to  either  of  these.  There 
were  eleven  Grammar  Schools  in  Gwyncdd  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  so  that  his  choice  would  not  be  limited  in  this 
respect.  The  Warden  of  Ruthin  (Dr.  Lloyd)  at  the  time  was  a 
Fellow  of  All  Soul's  College,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  if  Charles 
Edwards  went  there  he  owed  his  Bible  Clerkship  at  that  College 
to  him.  As  a  youth  he  seems  to  have  been  thoughtful  beyond 
his  years.  For  in  his  autobiography  he  states  that  he  went 
through  "very  piercing  inward  troubles,"  that  he  "spent  many  an 
hour  in  secret  pensiveness,'3  and  that  he  "  took  a  resolution  to 
serve  God  more  carefully "  than  he  had  done.  At  Oxford  his 
record  is  one  of  almost  ceaseless  struggle  both  of  mind  and  body. 
He  tells  us  that  he  was  "  prostrated  by  fever,"  and  he  describes 
the  harassing  time  he  was  put  to  when  the  Parliamentary  visitors 
1  Alumni  Oxonienses, ;  «-\nd  T> v.thodydi  (1886),  p,  284;  alboZ?.  N.  B. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

made  their  inquisition  of  the  University  in  1647-8.  The  students 
were  asked  to  submit  to  Parliament,  and  Charles  Edwards'  answer 
was  that  he  was  willing  to  do  so  "  as  far  as  he  lawfully  could." 
This  was  construed  as  contempt,  and  he  was  expelled  from  All 
Souls'  on  June  nth,  1647.  He  was,  however,  through  the  efforts 
of  his  friends,  elected  to  a  Scholarship  at  Jesus  College  on 
October  27th,  1648.  In  the  following  June  he  was  put  to  a 
further  test.  "  I  was  appointed,"  he  writes,  "  to  make  a  Latin 
declamation  in  praise  of  clemency  .  .  .  and  I  did  it  as  effectually 
as  I  could."  It  was  a  difficult  task  to  set  a  man  who  had  suffered 
so  much  at  the  hands  of  the  Visitors,  and  apparently  he  failed  to 
give  satisfaction.  Rather  pathetically  he  writes  :  "  Whether  my 
discourse  of  clemency  promised  me  severity  I  cannot  tell,  but  sure 
I  am  that  soon  after  it  was  used  towards  me."  However,  he 
proceeded  to  his  B.A.  degree  in  1649,  and  the  same  year  became 
Honorary  Fellow  and  Bible  Reader.  Some  time  later  he  was 
ejected  from  Oxford  and  withdrew  to  Denbighshire,  where  he 
married.  In  1650  he  was  engaged  by  the  Commissioners  of 
North  Wales  under  the  "  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  " 
at  a  salary  of  ^60  per  annum.1  In  1653  the  sinecure  of  Llan- 
rhaiadr-ym-Mochnant  was  conferred  upon  him,  and  he  held  it 
until  the  Restoration  in  1660,  when  he  was  deprived,  and  Bishop 
George  Griffith  of  St.  Asaph  took  possession.  Charles  Edwards 
had  had  frequent  trouble  with  his  parishioners,  who  petitioned 
the  Protector  against  him,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  unfaithful 
to  the  Government  and  insufficient  for  the  work.  He  had,  how- 
ever, met  these  charges  successfully.  After  his  deprivation  in 
1660,  nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  him  until  1666,  but 
presumably  he  continued  to  live  at  Llanrhaiadr.  In  that  year,  he 
relates  that  a  company  of  soldiers  broke  into  his  house  and  haled 
him  to  prison.  He  was  soon  released,  but  on  his  return  he  found 
that  one  of  his  children  had  died  through  fright.  Hugh  Salisbury 

1  At  a  meeting  at  Wrexham,  2ist  November,  1650  :  "  Ordered  yt  6ol  per 
ann.  be  payd  to  Mr.  Charles  Edwards  for  his  officiating  in  ye  like  worke," 
p.  26,  in  Cymdeithas  Lien  Cytnru's  issue  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Commission 
in  N.  Wales.  (Cardiff,  1908). 

184 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

composed  an  erigfyn  to  the  dead  child.  From  this  point,  Charles 
Edwards  seems  to  have  been  engulfed  in  domestic  troubles, 
which  ultimately  led  to  separation  from  his  wife.  His  words  are  : 
"  My  wife  importuned  me  to  part  from  her  and  live  asunder." 
His  children  also  turned  against  him,  "  being  discouraged  in  their 
obedience  by  the  many  injuries  they  saw  inflicted  on  me,  they 
became  undutiful." 

He  returned  to  Oxford  before  the  end  of  1666,  and  devoted 
himself  mainly  to  Welsh  literature.  His  first  work,  "  Hanes  y 
Ffydd,"  was  published  at  Oxford  in  that  year.  For  the  next  four 
or  five  years  he  was  busy  correcting  and  augmenting  this  work,  the 
contents  of  which  show  that  he  had  drunk  deeply  of  the  spirit  of 
William  Chillingworth's  Religion  of  Protestants.  It  appeared  in 
1671,  with  a  Latin  commendation  by  Michael  Roberts,  formerly 
Principal  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  It  was  really  an  amended 
and  enlarged  edition  of  Hanes  y  Ffydd,  and  must  be  regarded  as 
a  second  edition  of  that  work.  Its  full  title  is  : 

"Y  Ffydd  Ddi-ffvant.  Adroddiad  o  Helynt  y  Grefydd 
Gristianogol  er  dechreuad  y  byd  hyd  yr  oes  hon,  a  phrofiad  o'i 
gwirionedd  a'i  rhinwedd.  The  unfeigned  Faith.  Containing  a 
Briefe  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  from  the  beginning  of  the 
World  to  this  present  Age,  and  a  proofe  of  its  veritie  and 
efficacie.  Yr  ail-printiad  gyd  ag  anghwanegiad. 

Printiedig  yn  Rhydychen  gan  Hen  :  Hall,  ac  a  werthir  gan 
lyfrwyr  Gwrecsam  a  Llanfyllin  :  a  chan  Mr.  Gor  [page  torn]  yn 
Ghaer-Fyrddyn,  a  Mr.  Vertue  yn  Abergavenny,  ac  ymhen  y  bont 
ar  ogwr.  1671," 

The  third  edition  "with  augmentation"  appeared  in  1677. 
The  book  is  an  original  work,  and  not  a  translation,  as  so  many 
productions  of  this  period  were.  Although  it  is  plain  that  he 
derived  much  of  his  inspiration  from  Chillingworth's  book,  this 
has  not  affected  the  originality  of  his  work.  It  is  a  kind  of 
history  of  Christianity,  and  is  full  of  interesting,  but  not  always 
reliable  information  respecting  the  tenets  of  the  ancient  Welsh 
bards,  whose  orthodoxy  Charles  Edwards  stoutly  maintained,  and 

.85 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

attempted  to  prove  by  extracts  from  their  works.  He  also  shows 
that  the  primitive  British  Church  was  independent  of  Rome.  He 
shared  with  John  Lewis,  of  Glasgrug,  and  Dr.  John  Ellis,  of 
Dolgelley,  the  honour  of  being  amongst  the  first  to  conceive  the 
idea  of  a  national  college  for  Wales,  and  gives  expression  to  his 
desire  to  see  such  an  institution  established.  The  Ffydd 
Ddiffuant  is  sufficient  in  itself  to  show  that  he  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  attainments,  and  many  will  agree  with  the  late 
Dr.  L.  Edwards,  who,  upon  quoting  one  of  its  most  noted 
passages,  wrote :  "  Onid  yw  y  dyfyniad  hwn  yn  profi  mai  nid  dyn 
cyffredin  oedd  Charles  Edwards  ?  " 

In  1671  he  edited  and  published  the  second  edition  of 
Maurice  Kyffin:s  Deffyniad  Ffydd  Eglwys  Loegr,  under  the  title 
Dad-seiniad  Meibion  y  Daran,  together  with  Bishop  Davies' 
Epistol  at  y  Ctmbru  ;  and  in  1675  he  edited  and  corrected  the 
third  edition  of  Rowland  Vaughan's  Yr  Ymarfer  o  Dduwioldeb. 
This  was  published  by  Gouge's  Trust.  In  that  same  year  he 
published  his  curious  little  book,  of  which  several  editions  have 
appeared,  in  which  he  attempts  to  prove  the  Hebrew  origin  of  the 
Welsh  language.  It  is  entitled  Hebraicorum  Cambro-Britanni- 
corum  Specimen.  It  was  also  in  1671  that  he  corrected  for  the 
press  the  Hyfforddiadau  Christianogol,  a  translation  by  Richard 
Jones,  of  Denbigh.  In  1682  he  edited  and  improved  Robert 
Llwyd's  Lkvybr  Hyffordd,  and  in  1684  he  produced  a  second 
edition  of  Dr.  John  Davies'  Llyfr  y  Resolution.  In  1686  he 
published  a  work  in  English,  under  the  title  "  Fatherly  Instructions : 
being  Select  Pieces  of  the  Writings  of  the  Primitive  Christian 
Fathers,  with  an  Appendix  Intituled  Gildas  Minimus."  The 
translations  in  this  work  were  direct  from  the  original  Greek 
and  Latin.  About  this  time  he  seems  to  have  eked  out  a 
precarious  livelihood  as  a  bookseller,  for  in  Fatherly  Instructions 
he  states  "  British  books  are  to  be  had  with  the  publisher  hereof." 
There  are  two  letters  appended  to  this  work :  (i)  To  the  honoured 
persons  in  city  and  country  that  were  lately  trustees  for  charitable 

186 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

works  in   Wales.     (2)  To  my  kindred  and  acquaintances  in  the 
Counties  of  Salop  and  Denbigh  and  elsewhere. 

The  last  book  he  published  was  his  autobiography  in  1691. 
He  called  it  An  afflicted  man's  testimony  concerning  his  troubles, 
which  has  been  already  noticed.  There  was  a  great  mystery  in  his 
life,  which  no  one,  thus  far,  has  been  able  to  clear  up.  What  was 
it  that  estranged  him  from  all  men,  from  his  parishioners  at 
Llanrhaiadr,  from  his  wife  and  children,  and  from  that  gentle 
soul  Stephen  Hughes  ?  The  question  remains  unanswered.  His 
last  book,  which  is  a  kind  of  Apologia,  throws  no  light  on  it, 
because  in  it  he  took  it  for  granted  that  everyone  knew.  Why 
was  he  the  object  of  so  much  malevolence  ?  He  states  that 
attempts  were  made  on  his  life  by  poison,  and  that  the  hands  of 
all  men  were  against  him. 

Tillotson,  Stillingfleet,  and  Baxter  had  once  been  numbered 
amongst  his  friends,  and  he  had  done  good  service  to  Mr.  Gouge. 
Something  cooled  the  friendship  of  all  these  towards  him.  Was 
it  the  result  of  a  morbid  imagination,  or  did  he  suffer  from 
hallucinations  ?  One  can  hardly  believe  this  from  a  study  of  his 
-works,  for  in  them  is  found  no  sign  of  abnormal  tendencies.  The 
problem  must,  perhaps,  remain  unsolved  for  all  time.  There  is 
no  record,  so  far,  of  the  year  of  his  death.  It  is  very  difficult  to 
state  what  his  religious  views  were.  But  it  is  quite  certain  that  he 
never  received  Episcopal  Orders.  On  the  other  hand,  his  Non- 
conformity was  not  very  pronounced.  His  record  at  Llanrhaiadr 
was  that  he  preached  as  an  itinerant,  catechised  the  children  on 
Sunday,  and  held  monthly  fasts  on  a  week-day  in  public  and 
private.  His  tenets  are  supposed  to  have  been  more  in  agree- 
ment with  those  of  Dr.  John  Owen  than  with  those  of  Mr.  Richard 
Baxter.  Can  it  be  that  his  own  words  throw  the  best  light  on  his 
life  at  every  stage  ?  "  Fe'm  cyhuddid  fel  yn  anfoddog  at  y  pethau 
oeddynt  y  pryd  hynny  yn  bod."  He  was  a  man  out  of  harmony 
with  the  times  in  which  he  lived  and  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  found  himself. 

Closely  associated  with  Charles  Edwards  for  many  years  in 

187 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  movement  to  supply  Welshmen  with  edifying  books  in  their 
own  language  was  Stephen  Hughes  (1622-1688).  Both  had 
co-operated  in  what  may  be  called  the  Gouge  Movement  for  the 
enlightenment  of  the  Cymry.  Thomas  Gouge  had  lent  his 
powerful  personality  and  his  wealth  to  this  movement ;  Charles 
Edwards  had  placed  his  literary  powers  at  its  disposal ;  Stephen 
Hughes,  in  addition  to  his  literary  powers,  possessed  the  more 
distinctly  Cymric  characteristic  of  burning  eloquence,  and  a 
missionary  zeal  which  was  rivalled  by  none  in  this  century.  He 
saw  the  importance  of  Gouge's  movement,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  to  help  him,  and  to  him  it  is  due  that  it  developed  in  a 
Cymric  direction  rather  than  into  a  movement  to  teach  Welsh 
children  the  English  tongue,  for  that  was  what  naturally  suggested 
itself  to  Thomas  Gouge. 

Stephen  Hughes  was  born  at  Carmarthen  in  1622,  and  was 
the  son  of  John  Hughes,  who  is  described  as  a  silk  merchant 
(sidanydd)  in  that  town,1  who  was  also  an  Alderman  of  the 
borough,  and  was  twice  Mayor,  in  1650,  and  in  1660,  the  year  of 
his  death.2  His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Bevan,  daughter  of  a 
tanner  in  the  same  town,  and  the  latter  also  sat  on  the  Alder- 
man's bench  and  was  twice  elected  Mayor  of  Carmarthen. 
Stephen  Hughes  was  the  second  son,  and  although  there  is  no 
record  of  his  early  education,  the  town  of  Carmarthen  provided 
excellent  facilities  in  that  respect  in  its  Grammar  School,  and 
probably  he  was  educated  there.  It  is  not  known  whether  he 
proceeded  to  either  of  the  Universities.  No  record  of  him  exists 
there,  nor  is  there  any  trace  of  his  having  received  episcopal 
ordination.  In  1655  he  was  appointed  to  the  benefice  of 
Meidrym.  In  his  introduction  to  "  Llyfr  y  Ficer "  he  throws 
some  light  on  his  attitude  towards  the  Established  Church. 3 

'Rwyf  yn  traethu  ei  hathrawiaeth, 
Er  na  lieaf  mo'i  disgygblaeth  ; 
Ond  nid  wyf  yn  cyhoeddi  hynny 
B'le'r  rwyn  arfer  o  bregethu. 

1  Y Beiriiiad,  ii.  rhif  3,  p.  175.     2  ibid,       3  Gwaith  Gwallter  Mee/iain,  ii. 
p.  301- 
1 88 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

It  would  seem  that  he  had  previously  laboured  at  Merthyr. 
The  Rev.  T.  Shankland  has  a  record  of  his  recommendation  to 
John  Rice  for  the  living  of  Henllan  Amgoed,  in  which  he  is 
styled  "Stephen  Hughes,  Merthyr."  It  is  dated  October  2;th, 
1655,'  a  few  days  before  he  was  put  in  possession  of  Meidrym. 
The  inference  is  that  he  had  held  Merthyr  from  1653  to  1657, 
an  appointment  derived  from  the  Commissioners,  for  in  the  latter 
year  James  Davies  was  appointed  to  that  benefice.  Stephen 
Hughes'  name  is  not  mentioned  amongst  those  appointed  under 
the  Act  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  1650-53.  However, 
it  is  certain  that  he  held  the  living  of  Meidrym  from  the  patron, 
David  Morgan,  Esq.,  from  August  30th,  1654.  In  his  institution 
to  that  benefice  he  is  styled  Clerke.  He  was  licensed  by  the 
Approvers  on  October  26th,  1655,  and  there  is  a  record  dated 
December  2oth,  1655,  of  his  receiving  an  increase  in  income  of 
£52  IQS.  Qd.  per  annum.  His  own  name  appears  as  an  Approver 
on  the  certificate  of  William  Jones,  Cilmaenllwyd,  February  25th, 
1655,  and  also  on  several  others.  Through  his  petition,  David 
Jones  received  the  living  and  tithes  of  Llandyssilio  on  March 
loth,  1657.  His  father's  name  also  appears  in  documents  recom- 
mending men  to  livings.2 

Stephen  Hughes'  labours  in  collecting  and  editing  the  works 
of  Vicar  Prichard  have  already  been  noticed  in  the  portion  of  this 
book  which  deals  with  the  life  of  that  worthy,  and  need  not  be 
repeated  here.  The  complete  work  was  published  by  him  in 
1 68 1,  under  the  title  Canwyll  y  Cymry,  and  bound  with  it 
generally,  although  with  a  separate  title,  and  probably  issued 
separately,  there  appeared  his  translation  of  a  work  of  Francis 
Pereaud,  under  the  title  "  Adroddiad  Cywir  o'r  Pethau  pennaf  ar 
a  wnaeth,  ac  a  ddwedodd  Yspryd  Aflan  yn  Mascon  yn  Burgundy," 
and  Robert  Holland's  "  Dau  Gymro  yn  Taring,"  a  work  written 
against  divination  and  sorcery. 

Stephen  Hughes  had  been  deprived  of  the  benefice  of 
Meidrym  in  1660,  and  nothing  is  known  of  him  between  that 

1  Y  Btirniad,  ii.,  rhif  3,  p.  176.     "ibid,  p.  177. 

189 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

year  and  1669.  He  was  probably  in  hiding  part  of  the  time,  but 
there  is  no  record  of  his  suffering  imprisonment,  nor  does  his 
name  appear  in  the  Report  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  1665.  Some  time  during  this 
interval  he  married  a  lady  from  Swansea,  possessed  of  consider- 
able means,  and  there  were  born  to  them  two  children,  Jane,  who 
is  mentioned  in  his  will  as  his  only  daughter,  and  Stephen,  his 
son,  who  is  also  mentioned,  but  it  is  not  stated  that  he  was  his 
only  son.1 

For  the  last  part  of  his  life,  1670-1688,  there  is  abundant 
testimony.  In  1672  Chares  II.  proclaimed  an  amnesty  to 
Nonconformists,  and  in  that  year  Thomas  Gouge  began  his 
labours  in  Wales.  In  1671-72  Stephen  Hughes  is  found  in 
London  preparing  literature  for  circulation  amongst  his  country- 
men. It  is  extremely  likely  that  he  met  Gouge  there,  and 
acquainted  him  with  his  projects.  Probably  he  was  instrumental 
above  all  others  in  deciding  Gouge  to  transfer  his  efforts  to 
Wales.  He  had  certainly  thought  out  the  educational  project  for 
Wales  before  Gouge  participated  in  it.  The  best  proof  of  this  is 
that  three  parts  of  Vicar  Prichard's  work  were  ready  in  1672,  and  a 
Welsh  New  Testament  in  the  same  year,  which  was  probably  the 
most  memorable  year  in  Stephen  Hughes'  busy  life.  Two 
thousand  copies  of  the  Testament  Newydd  were  issued,  and  also 
the  following  works : 

1.  "Catechism  Mr.   Perkins  a  osodwyd  allan  yn  Gymraeg  ys 
mwy  na   thriugain    mlynedd  a  deg,  gan  Mr.  Robert  Holland, 
gweinidog  Llanddyfenvr  [Llanddowror  yn  Sir  Gaerfyrddin], 
ac  ar  ol  hynny  gan  Mr.   E.   Ivan  Roberts,  gweinidog  Llan- 
badarn  Fawr  yn  Sir  Aberteifi :  Ac  yn  awr  y  drydedd   waith 
wedi  ei  wneuthur  yn  fwy  eglur  i'r  cyffredin  boblgan  ewyllysiwr 
da  i  Gymru." 

2.  "  Sail  y  Grefydd  Gristnogol."      ' 

3.  "  Amryw  Reolau  Duwiol  i  bob  Christion  i'w  harfer." 

4.  "Rhodfa  feunyddiol   y   Christion,    neu  addysg  fuddiol,"  a, 
1  Y  Bcirniad,  ii.,  rhif  3,  p,  176. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

translation  by  Richard  Jones,  of  Denbigh,  of  Henry  Casland's 

Christian's  Daily  Walk. 
5.  "  Amdo  neu  Amwisc  i  Babyddiaeth,"  a  translation  by  Richard 

Jones,  of  Denbigh,  of  Richard  Baxter's  Winding  Sheet. 

In  addition  to  all  these,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  publica- 
tion of  Holl  Ddyledswydd  Dyn,  in  1672,  and  in  the  dissemination 
of  Hants  y  Ffydd  Ddiffuant  and  Dadseiniad  Meibion  y  Daran, 
which  had  been  published  by  Charles  Edwards  in  1671.  In 
1671  he  added  a  glossary  of  the  difficult  words  in  Hyfforddiadau 
Christianogol,  a  work  of  Gouge's,  which  was  translated  by  Richard 
Jones,  of  Denbigh,  and  in  Yr  Ymarfer  o  Dduwioldeb.  In  the 
same  year,  the  scarcity  of  Bibles  in  the  Principality  spurred  Gouge 
and  Hughes  to  a  renewed  effort  to  bring,  out  another  edition,  a 
work  in  which  Archbishop  Tillotson  assisted.  It  was  issued  in 
1677-8,  and  also  contained  Y  Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin,  yr 
Apocrypha,  a'r  Salman  Can.  In  1677,  Hughes  edited  and 
issued  a  series  of  tracts  in  one  thick  volume  entitled  Trysor  i'r 
Cymru*  and  very  probably  he  had  a  share  in  other  reprints  issued 
in  that  year. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  from  1672-1688  Stephen  Hughes' 
work  had  been  done  in  co-operation  with  Thomas  Gouge.  The 
latter  saw  to  the  schools  and  to  the  financial  side  of  the  move- 
ment. Charles  Edwards  and  Stephen  Hughes  saw  to  the 
publications.  The  thoroughness  of  the  latter  accounts  for  the 
accuracy  of  the  1677-78  Bible,  which  is  a  tribute  both  to  his 
scholarship  and  to  his  care.  He  collaborated  with  three  others 
in  the  translation  of  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  the  work 
was  issued  under  his  editorship  under  the  title  Taith  neu  Siwrnai 
y  Pererin  tan  Rith  neu  Gyfielybiaeth  Breuddwyd,  in  1688. 

'  This  work  contained  (a)  "  Pregeth  Arthur  Dent  ar  Edifeirwch";  (b) 
"  Drych  i  dri  math  o  Eobl  "  (Oliver  Thomas);  (c)  "  Bc-llach  neu  Byth  "  (a 
translation  of  Baxter's  Now  or  Never,  by  Richard  Jones',  of  Denbigh).  He 
also  published,  in  1677,  "  Cyfarwydd-deb  i'r  Anghyfarwydd,"  which  contains 
(a)  "  Galwad  i'r  Annychweledig,"  an  excellent  translation  by  Richard  Jones, 
of  Denbigh,  of  Baxter's  Call  to  the  Unconverted;  (b)  "  Carwr  y  Cymru"; 
(c)  "  Agoriad  byr  i  Weddi'r  Arglwydd"  (Robert  Holland's  translation  of 
Perkins'  work)  ;  (d)  "Cannwyll  Crist''  (Vavasor  Powell). 

191 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

In  all  Stephen  Hughes'  publications  he  gives  the  Welsh 
alphabet.  The  old  people  generally  tore  it  out  and  pasted  it  on 
a  thin  board,  and  there  is  no  doubt  it  helped  them  considerably 
to  learn  to  read.  They  generally  referred  to  it  as  the  Llyfr 
Corn. 

He  was  preparing  to  bring  out  another  edition  of  the  Bible, 
and  was  in  London  superintending  the  work,  when  he  was  taken 
ill  in  the  spring  of  1687-8.  He  returned  home,  made  his  will  on 
April  1 8,  1688,  and  must  have  died  shortly  aftenvards,  for  his 
will  was  proved  on  July  16,  1688.  He  was  buried  in  St.  John's 
Churchyard,  Swansea. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  of  him  to  give  a  general  idea  of  his 
activity  in  the  movement  for  the  educational  and  spiritual 
improvement  of  Wales.  The  edition  of  the  Bible,  the  last  work 
in  which  he  had  been  interested,  was  finished  by  his  friend  David 
Jones,  of  Llandyssilio.  in  1690.  His  work  for  Wales  has  in 
recent  years  received  something  of  the  attention  it  deserves,  and 
most  students  of  Welsh  literature  are  alive  to  the  fact  that  he  did 
more  than  any  living  man  in  the  seventeenth  century,  through  his 
circulation  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  books,  to  preserve  the 
language  and  to  elevate  the  tone  of  the  nation  he  loved  so  well. 

There  are  still  a  few  minor  writers  whose  work  has  to  be 
chronicled  to  complete  the  record  of  the  religious  writings,  which 
were  published  in  this  century. 

William  Jones  (?  1609-1679),  a  Merionethshire  man,  who 
afterwards  kept  the  Grammar  School  at  Ruthin,  and  thence 
proceeded  to  Denbigh,  where  he  was  chaplain  to  Governor 
Twistleton,  and  in  1648  was  put  in  charge  of  the  parish,  until 
forced  to  leave  by  the  Five  Mile  Act,  when  he  found  refuge 
at  Plas  Teg  in  Flintshire,  took  part  in  the  publication  of  Egivydd- 
orion  y  Grefydd  Gristionogol  yn  gynmvysedig  mewn  Catechism  Byr, 
which  appeared  in  1664.  The  translator's  name  is  not  attached 
to  the  work,  and  Williams  in  his  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  376,  is  of 
opinion  that  James  Owen  was  responsible  for  it.  But  he  has 
probably  confused  it  with  another  Catechism  translated  by  that 
192 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

author.  Palmer  states  that  William  Jones  translated  it,1  and 
David  Jones  of  Llandyssilio  thought  so  well  of  it  that  he  published 
a  second  edition  in  1679.  It  is  a  small  work  of  74  pages,  con- 
taining the  Presbyterian  Catechism,  the  Nicene  Creed  and  that 
of  St.  Athanasius,  also  Dr.  John  Davies'  translation  of  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles.  Four  englynion  follow  in  praise  of  Mrs.  M.  Crowther 
and  Mr.  Caleb  D'Avenant,  who  bore  the  expense  of  publication, 
signed  John  Rhydderch  a't  cAnt.  The  Catechism  is  divided  into 
thirty  parts,  according  to  the  days  of  the  month. 

The  Trevors  of  Plas  Teg  were  strong  supporters  of  William 
Jones,  and  gave  him  land  valued  at  ,£20  per  annum  to  support 
him  when  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Denbigh.  He  was  once 
imprisoned  for  three  months  under  the  Conventicle  Act.  His 
last  days  were  spent  at  Estyn,  where  he  died  in  i6"jg.3 

In  1676  he  had  translated  and  published  two  works  by 
Thomas  Gouge.  The  first  he  entitled  "  Gair  i  Bechaduriaid,  a 
Gair  i  Sainct,"  the  first  part  of  which  showed  the  importance  of 
regeneration  and  the  peril  of  remaining  in  sin,  and  the  second 
was  meant  for  encouragement  to  the  godly  to  persevere  in  the 
path  of  duty.  The  book  was  printed  by  A.  Maxwell,  London, 
1676. 

The  other  work  was  entitled  "Principlau  neu  Bennau  y 
Grefydd  Gristionogol,  A  agorir  fel  y  gallo  y  gwannaf  eu  deall," 
issued  by  the  same  press  in  the  same  year.  William  Jones  was 
one  of  the  band  of  energetic  Welshmen  who  co-operated  with 
Thomas  Gouge,  and  helped  the  movement  as  a  translator. 

John  Langfbrd,  whose  record  in  The  History  of  the  Diocese 
of  St.  Asaph  3  is  that  he  graduated  B.A.  from  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  and  M.A.  from  Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  was  preferred 
to  the  Rectory  of  Efenechtyd  in  1663  ;  Derwyn,  in  1672  ;  and 
Llanelidan,  in  1684.  He  was  a  Ruthin  man  by  birth,  and  translated 
into  Welsh  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man,  the  work  of  Thomas  Gouge, 
and  published  it  in  1672  under  the  title  "  Holl  Ddyledswydd 

1  Hants  Crefyddyng  Nghymru,  p.  232.  2  ibid,  pp.  554-5,  and  Gwaith 
Gwaliter  Mechain,  ii.  p,  303.  3  Vol.  ii.,  p.  74. 

193 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Dyn,  Gwedi  ei  osod  ar  lawr  Mewn  modd  hynod  o  Eglur,  Defn- 
yddiol  i  bawb,  ond  yn  enwedig  i'r  Darllenydd  mwyaf  Annyscedig. 
Gwedi  ei  ddosparthu  i  xvii.  o  Bennodau  ;  Y  rhai  trwy  ddarllen  un 
o  honynt  bob  Dydd  yr  Arglwydd,  a  ddarllenir  i  gyd  trostynt 
deirgwaith  yn  y  Fhvyddyn.  Angenrheidiol  i  bob  Teuluoedd. 
Ynghyd  a  Dwywolder  Neillduol  ar  amryw  Achosion.  A  gyfieith- 
wyd  yn  Gymro-aeg  gan  J.  Langford,  A.M.  London,  Printed  for 
R.  Royston,  Bookseller  to  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty. 
1672."  There  is  also  a  separate  title-page  for  the  last  part  of  the 
book :  "  Duwiolder  Neillduol  ar  amryw  Achosion,  yn  gystal 
Cyffredinol  ac  Anghyffredinol.  London,  Printed  for  R.  Royston. 
1672."  A  second  edition  was  issued  in  1711  :  "  Yr  ail  argraphiad 
ar  61  manwl  Chwiliad  a  delead  Beiau'r  Cyntaf." 

Edward  Lloyd*  (?-:685),  of  Llangower,  the  father  of 
Bishop  William  Lloyd,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Norwich,  and  one  of 
the  non jurors,  who  was  born  at  Llangower  Rectory,  translated 
two  books  of  the  work  of  Bishop  Patrick,  the  first  in  1682,  under 
the  title  :  "  Egwyddor  i  Rai  Jevaingc  i'w  cymmhwyso  i  dderbyn  y 
Cymmun  Sanctaidd  yn  fuddiol.  Gwaith  y  Parchedig  a'r  Dwyfol 
Athro  Simon  Patrick  Deon  Llanbedr  yn  lloegr.  A  gyfieithwyd 
o'r  Saesonaeg,  gan  Edward  Llwyd,  Athro  yn  y  Celfyddydau.  Ag 
a  Brintiwyd  yn  Llundain,  1682."  Edward  Lloyd  was  incumbent 
of  Llangower,  a  parish  on  the  shores  of  Bala  Lake.  He  is  men- 
tioned in  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy  as  one  of  the  clergy 
ejected  during  the  Commonwealth.1  His  preface,  or,  "Llythyr 
at  ei  Blwyfolion,"  is  dated  "  O'm  Stafell  yn  Eglwyseg  Mis  Medi 
y  chyntaf,  1682."  It  is  followed  by  englynion  "  Ar  y  Gorthrymder 
gynt,  y  bu  y  cyfieithydd  dano,  ei  Warediad  o  hono,  ac  ar  y 
Cyfieithiad,"  written  by  his  nephew,  Meredydd  Llwyd,  "  er  dal 
Cof  am  ei  Anwyl  ewythr,  a'i  anrhydeddus  henaint."  The  original 
author,  Dr.  Simon  Patrick,  was  Bishop  of  Ely,  promoted  from  the 

1  Page  248  of  that  work.  *Edward  Lloyd,  in  the  History  of  the  Diocese 
of  St.  Asaph,  iii.  p.  1 12,  is  stated  to  have  been  appointed  to  the  benefice  of 
Llangower  in  1645,  an^  to  have  been  deprived  by  the  Sequestrators.  He  was 
restored  in  1661,  and  became  Vicar  of  Llangwm  in 


Deanery  of  Peterborough,  which   Edward  Lloyd  calls  "  Llanbedr 
yn  Lloegr." 

The  second  book  Lloyd  translated  was  not  published  until 
1722,  and  was  entitled:  "  Meddyginiaeth  a  Chyssur.  Yr  civil 
helbulus,  clafyccus,  a  thrallodus,  ar  ei  glaf  wely,  a  gasgl'.vyd  ailan 
o'r  Ysgrythur  Sanctaidd,  ac  hefyd  o  ystorieu  ac  Athrawiaethau  yr 
hen  Dadau  ;  a  rhesymau  y  Philosophyddion,  a  gwyr  doethion 
dyscedig  eraill  o'r  cynfyd  :  Ac  a  osodwyd  allan  trwy  lafur  Edward 
Lloyd.  Athro  y  celfyddydau  ;  a  gweinidog  yr  efengyl  yn  llan- 
gower,  yn  Sir  Feirion  :  Er  lleshad  i'w  braidd  y  mae'n  figail  arnynt, 
ac  yn  oruchwyliwr  i  gyfrannu  iddynt  eu  bwyd  yn  eu  bryd,  sef  yw 
hynny,  didwyll  laeth  y  gain  i  Pet.  2.  2.  Ac  ar  ol  hynny  er 
budd  i'r  Cymru  oil.  Argraphwyd  yn  y  Mwythig,  gan  John  Rogers, 
1722." 

William  Foulkes,*  M.A.,  rector  of  Llanfyllin  1661-1691, 
canon  of  St.  Asaph,  sinecure  rector  of  Cwm,  rector  of  Llanbryn- 
mair,  and  of  Llanfihangel-yn-Ngwynfa,  edited  a  small  volume 
which  appeared  in  1685,  of  the  work  of  Bishop  George  Griffith  of 
St.  Asaph,  entitled,  "  Gweddi'r  Arglwydd  wedi  ei  hegluro  mewn 
amryw  ymadroddion,  neu  Bregethau  Byrrion.  O  waith  y  Gwir 
Barchedig  Dad  Geor.  Griffith,  D.D.,  Diweddar  Escob  Llanelwy. 
Printiwyd  yn  y  Theater  yn  Rhydychen,  1685."  The  editor, 
William  Foulkes,  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Foulkes,  Llan- 
fyllin, who  was  turned  out  of  that  living  by  the  Cromwellians. 
Bishop  Griffith  afterwards  gave  it  to  the  son,  and  the  latter 
laboured  there  for  thirty  years,  died  at  Llanfyllin  in  1691,  and  was 
buried  near  the  church  door,  where  a  stone  stands  to  his  memory. 
William  Foulkes  also  translated  "  Esponiad  ar  Gatechism  yr 
Eglwys,  Neu  Ymarfer  o  Gariad  Ddwyfol.  A  gymmonwyd  er 
lleshad  Esgobaeth  Bath.  Gan  Thomas,  Esgob  Baddon.  Ac  a 

*  In  the  Hist,  of  the  Diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  under  Canonia  Qaar/a,  vol.  i. 
p.  360,  Archdeacon  Thomas  gives  the  following  record  of  William  Ffoulkes  : 
William  Foulkes,  M.A.,  Jesus  Coll.,  Oxford.  Cler.  fil  ;  Sinecure  Reclor  of 
Cwm,  1660-1,  exchanged  for  the  Rectories  of  Llanbrynmair  and  Llanfyllin, 
1661-9:.  I\.  of  Llanfihangel-yn-Nghwnfa,  1680-91.  He  edited  Bishop 
driffi'h  s  Sermons  in  Welsh  on  ihe  Lord's  Prayer,  and  wrote  the  Rkagy 
(f  y  n 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

gyfieithwyd  o'r  Saesonaeg  (yn  ol  ei  gyntaf  osodiad  allan),  gan 
William  Foulkes,  Athro  yn  y  Celfyddydau,  a  Gweinidog  anwiw 
Gair  Duw  yn  Llanfylling.  Printiedig  yn  Rhydychen  yn  y  flwyddyn 
1688." 

Thomas  Williams,!  M.A.,  Denbigh,  who  had  graduated 
at  Jesus  College  in  1680.  and  became  Rector  of  Denbigh  in  1697, 
tfanslated  a  work  of  Dr.  Wm.  Sherlock's,  which  had  appeared  in 
1690.  The  Welsh  work  appeared  in  1691,  under  the  title 
"  Ymadroddion  bucheddol  ynghylch  marwolaeth.  O  waith  Doctor 
Sherlock.  A  gyfieithwyd  yn  Gymraeg  gan  Tho.  Williams,  A.M. 
Printiedig  yn  Rhydychen  gan  Leon  Lichfield,  i  John  Marsh  yn 
Cat- Eaten  Street,  ac  i  Charles  Walley  tan  y  Hew  coch  yn 
Aldermanbury,  yn  Llundain,  1691."  William  Sherlock,  the 
author  of  the  original,  was  born  at  South wark,  London,  in  1641, 
and  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge.  In  1669  he  was  presented 
to  a  London  living,  and  in  1683  he  became  prebendary  of  St. 
Pancras.  He  was  a  High  Churchman  and  a  Jacobite,  and  in 
consequence  was  prohibited  for  a  time  from  preaching.  During 
that  time  he  wrote  this  book,  which  he  published  in  1690. 
Sherlock  ultimately  submitted  to  the  necessary  oaths,  and  was 
reinstated.  He  published  many  tracts  and  sermons.  He  died  at 
Hampstead  in  1707.  His  son,  Dr.  Thomas  Sherlock,  became 
Bishop  of  Bangor  in  1728.  He  was  also  a  writer  of  some  note.1 

Other  works  translated  by  Thomas  Williams  were :  "  Eglur- 
had  ar  Gatechism  yr  Eglwys,"  1 708  ;  "  Annogaeth  Fer  i'r  Cymmun 
Sanctaidd,"  1710  ;  "Cydymaith  i  Ddyddiau  Gwylion  ac  Ympryd- 
iau  Eglwys  Loegr,"  1712.  The  last  named  is  a  considerable  work, 
and  runs  to  691  pages.  He  wrote  one  original  work,  "  Goruch- 
afiaeth  a  Llawenydd  y  Gwir  Gristion,"  which  was  published  as  late 
as  1777  at  Trefriw. 

t  The  Alumni  Oxonienses  records  :  Thomas  Williams,  s.  William  of 
Yals-fach,  co.  Denbigh,  p.p.  Jesus  Coll.  Matric.,  3  April,  1674,  aged  16. 
B.A.  1677.  M.A.  1680,  perhaps  rector  of  Kegidog  St.  George,  1684-7,  and 
of  Llanarmon-Dyffryn-Ceiriog,  1687-1702.  V.  of  Llanrwst  1690-7  and  of 
Llansannan  (ist  portion),  all  co.  of  Denbigh,  1696-1726.  Rector  and  Vicar 
ofDenbigh,  1697-1726. 

1  Life  of  Sherlock  in  Jones'  Christian  Biographical  Dictionary  * 

196 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

John  Morgan,  Vicar  of  Aberconwy,  published  a  translation 
entitled  "  Eglurhad  byrr  ar  Catechism  yr  Eglwys,  ynghyd  a 
thystiolaethau  o'r  Scrythur  Ian,"  in  1699.  He  also  published,  in 
1704,  "  Bloedd-nad  Ofnadwy,  Yr  udcorn  diweddaf  Neu  Ail- 
ddyfodiad  Christ  i  farnu'r  Byd ;  ar  wedd  Pregeth.  Ynghyd  a 
rhai  Caniadau  deunyddiol  i  annerch  y  Cymru.  Ac  Hyfforddiad 
i'r  anllythrenog  i  ddysgu  darllen  Cymraeg."  His  record  in 
Alumni  Oxon.  is  as  follows  :  "  John  Morgans  p.p.  Jesus  Coll. 
matric.  26  May,  1693.  V.  of  Abercomvay,  co.  Carnarvon,  1697." 

Edward  Jones,  of  Llanmere wig,  published  in  1699-1700 
"  Cydymaith  yr  Eghvyswr  yn  yrmveled  a'r  claf,  yn  cynnwys  i.  Y 
modd  neu  wedd  i  ymweled  a'r  claf.  ii.  Y  drefn  am  ymweled  a'r 
claf,  allan  o'r  Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin.  iii.  Cymmun  y  claf. 
iv.  Rhai  gweddiau  a  ffurfiau  eraill,  Gan  mwyaf  allan  o  scrifen- 
iadau  defosionawl  rhai  o'r  Difeinyddion  enwocaf  o  Eglwys  Loegr, 
ynghyd  a  Bedydd  Public  a  Phrifat.  O  gyfieithiad  Edward  Jones, 
Llanafrewig."  The  parish  of  Llanmerewig,  of  which  Edward  Jones 
was  vicar,  is  situated  near  Newtown,  in  Montgomeryshire.1 

David  Maurice,  D.D.  (1626-1702),  son  of  Dean  Maurice, 
was  Vicar  of  Abergele  and  Llanarmon,  and  also  Prebendary  of 
Vaynol  in  St.  Asaph  Cathedral.  He  published  in  1700  "Arwein- 
iwr  Cartrefol  i'r  iawn  a'r  buddiol  Dderbyniad  o  Swpper  yr 
Arglwydd,  ym  mha  un  hefyd  y  mae'r  ffordd  a'r  modd  o  iechydwr- 
iaeth  wedi  ei  gosod "  allan  yn  fyrr,  ac  fel  y  bo  hawdd  eu  deall. 
Gan  Theophilus  Dorrington.  O  gyfieithiad  David  Maurice,  D.D.'' 
He  also  translated  another  work  of  Dorrington's,  and  entitled  it 
"  Cynffwrdd  i'r  Gwan  Gristion,  neu'r  Gorsen  ysig.  Gan  Dafydd 
Maurice,  D.D.  <Sc  Dorrington."  This  was  published  in  1702. 
The  record  given  of  him  in  Alumni  Oxon.  is  as  follows : 
"  Maurice,  David,  of  Jes.  Coll.,  pleb.  Matric.  June,  1651  (subs. 

•The  History  of  the  Diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  \.  p.  536,  states  that  Edward 
Tones  received  the  benefice  of  Llanmerewig  in  1635.  He  was  M.A.  from 
Hart  Hall,  Oxford,  and  Vicar  of  Nantlyn  from  1625  to  1635.  The  Alumni 
Oxon.  records  that  he  was  of  co.  Merioneth,  and  matriculated  at  Hart  Hall, 
igth  June,  1610,  aged  19.  B.A.  1611-12,  M,A.  1614.  If  these  details  are 
correct,  Edward  Jones'  publication  must  have  appeared  some  years  after  his 
death. 

'97 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

as  Morris),  B.A.  1654-5  ;  M.A.  from  New  College,  1657.  Vicar 
of  Llangemyw,  1662.  Rector  of  Kegidog  St.  George,  1663; 
Cursal  Prebendary  of  St.  Asaph,  1664;  Canon,  1666;  V.  of 
Llanasa,  1666;  R.  of  Gwytherin,  1675  ;  V.  of  Abergele,  1684; 
V.  ofBettwsyn  Rhos,  1684;  R.  of  Llanarmon  in  Yale,  1696." 
He  died  in  1702,  and  was  buried  at  Abergele.1 


There  were  many  eminent  Welshmen  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  who  wrote  in  English,  and  whose  works  it  is  necessary  to 
chronicle  in  this  account,  for  without  them  Wales  would  be  shorn 
of  half  its  glory  in  this  part  of  our  subject,  inasmuch  as  the  vast 
preponderance  of  the  works  we  have  noticed  were  translations 
from  the  English.  But  there  were  Welshmen  whose  careers  had 
taken  them  outside  the  geographical  limits  of  their  own  country, 
but  who,  nevertheless,  were  Welsh  in  blood  and  sentiment,  and 
although  they  were  not  contributors  to  Welsh  literature  as  such, 
they  must  be  reckoned  as  benefactors  to  their  country,  and  their 
works  must  be  included  as  part  of  the  intellectual  output  of 
Wales  in  that  period.  They  were  men,  for  the  most  part,  intensely 
interested  in  the  movements  of  the  time,  and  their  share  in  them 
was  the  share  of  Wales,  inasmuch  as  they  were  so  often  "  Welsh- 
men born,"  as  the  writer  of  the  History  of  Oxford  University 
carefully  states. 

Gabriel  Powel  (1576-1611)  was  a  famous  polemical 
divine  of  this  period.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  David  Powell,  of 
Ruabon,  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1592,  and  graduated 
B.A.  in  1595-6.  In  1601-07  ne  was  sinecure  rector  of  Llansant- 
ffraid  yn  Mechain,  Mont.,  and  became  domestic  chaplain  to 
Richard  Vaughan,  Bishop  of  London,  in  1605,  and  in  1606  rector 
of  Chellesworth,  Suffolk,  subsequently  removing  in  1610  to  the 
vicarage  of  Northolt  (then  called  Northall),  in  Middlesex.  He 
died  in  161 1,2  at  the  early  age  of  35,  after  a  career  of  great  promise 
and  of  considerable  achievement.  He  was  accounted  a  prodigy 
of  learning,  and  had  great  powers  of  argument  and  command  of 
1  History  of  Diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  \.  p.  334.  2Z>.  N.  £.,  vol.  xlvi.  Wood 
erroneously  supposed  that  he  died  in  1607. 

1 08 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITi: 

clear  and  terse  expression,  Although  Wood  describes  him  as  a 
stiff  Puritan,1  his  works  do  not  bear  this  out.  He  was  certainly- 
opposed  to  Rome,  but  equally  hostile  to  the  "  fanatical  conceits 
which  scrupled  at  ....  the  cross  and  surplice,  and  such  other 
laudable  ceremonies.'' 2  He  rejected  the  term  "  Protestant  "  in 
\mSuppZication,  1604,  as  "a  name  given  to  certaine  Germaines 
that  protested  against  matters  ....  that  touch  us  nothing, 
which  never  joined  with  them  in  protestation."  Powell  was  a 
trenchant  antagonist  of  William  Bradshaw,  and  was  the  author  of 
the  following  works:  "The  Resolved  Christian,"  1602  (3rd 
edition);  "  Prodromus,"  1602,  the  first  instalment  of  a  commen- 
tary on  all  the  Epistles  ;  "The  Catholikes  Supplication,"  1603, 
enlarged  in  1604  ;  "  Disputationum  Theologicarum  de  Antichristo 
libri  duo,"  1604-5;  Book  ii.,  1606;  "The  Unlawfulnesse  and 
Danger  of  Toleration,"  1605;  "A  Refutation  of  an  Epistle 
Apologetical,  written  by  a  Puritan -Papist,"  1605  ;  this  was  a  work 
against  Bradshaw,  as  was  also,  "  A  Consideration  of  the  Deprived 
and  Silenced  Ministers'  Arguments,"  1606,  and  "A  Rejoynder  to 
the  Myld  Defence,"  1606.  In  that  year  he  also  wrote  "De 
Adiaphoris  Theses."  In  1600  he  had  prefixed  some  verses  to 
William  Vaughan's  "  Golden  Grove  Moralized,"  in  which  he  spells 
his  name  Powel,  as  also  in  the  title-pages  of  his  own  books. 

Francis  Goodwin3  was  Student  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
in  1578,  and  became  Bishop  of  Llandaff  in  1601,  and  held  that 
See  for  sixteen  years,  when,  in  1617,  he  was  translated  to  Here- 
ford, which  he  held  until  his  death  in  1633.  Wood's  comment 
on  him  shows  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held  amongst  scholars. 
"  He  was  a  good  man,  a  grave  Divine,  skilful  mathematician, 
excellent  philosopher,  pure  Latinist,  incomparable  historian,  being 
no  less  critical  in  Histories  than  the  learned  Selden." 

In  one  of  his  works  he  collected  from  old  monuments  and 
records,  "  the  Succession  of  all  the  Bishops  of  England  and  Wales 
since  the  first  planting  of  the  Gospel,  not  pretermitting  those  of 
the  British  Church."1*  This  he  published  in  1601,  under  the  title 

1  Athen  ;  Oxm  :  i.,   pp.  294,    394.       :  See  unicle  in  D.  N.  />',     J  At  hen  : 
Oxon  :  i.,  pp.  496-7.     4ibid. 

'99 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  A  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops  of  England,  since  the  first  planting 
of  the  Christian  Religion  in  this  Island,  together  with  a  brief 
History  of  their  Lives  and  memorable  actions.  London.  1601." 
It  was  for  this  work  that  Queen  Elizabeth  promoted  him  to  the 
bishopric  of  Llandaff.  He  brought  out  another  edition  of  it  in 
1615,  because  of  his  omission  in  the  first  of  the  Bishops  of  Bangor 
and  St.  Asaph,  and  added,  "  A  Discourse  concerning  the  first 
Conversion  of  this  Island  of  Britaine  into  the  Christian  Religion." 
Bishop  Goodwin  was  a  strong  Puritan,  and  Prynne  often  took 
advantage  to  quote  from  his  writings  when  he  wanted  to  advance 
the  Puritan  cause  against  the  bishops.  While  he  was  a  student  at 
Christ  Church,  Goodwin  had  written  under  the  name  Domingo 
Gozales,  a  work  entitled  "  The  Man  in  the  Moon,  or,  a  discourse 
of  a  Voyage  thither."  This  was  printed  in  London  1638,  after 
the  author's  death,  and  before  the  title  it  had  the  picture  of  a  man 
taken  up  from  the  top  of  a  mountain,  by  an  engine  drawn  up  to 
the  moon  "  by  certain  flying  birds."  J 

In  1629  Bishop  Goodwin  published  his  last  work,  "  Nuncius 
Manimatus."  He  died  in  1633.  He  had  been  a  friend  and 
patron  of  William  Camden. 

John  Jones  (Leander),  the  learned  Benedictine,  "the 
ornament  of  the  English  Benedictines  in  his  time,"  as  Wood 
styles  him,  was  born  in  1575,  and  was  descended  from  a  family 
living  at  Llanvrynach,  in  Brecknockshire.  He  was  educated  at 
Merchant  Taylor's  School,  and  secured  from  there  in  1591  a 
scholarship  at  St.  John's  College,  Oxford.  Here  he  met  William 
Laud  and  they  became  firm  friends.  John  Jones  afterwards 
became  Fellow  of  his  college,  and  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
Civil  Law.2  But  at  this  time,  having  leanings  towards  Rome,  he 
abandoned  his  Fellowship  and  proceeded  to  Spain,  where  he 
joined  the  Order  of  the  Benedictine  Monks  at  Compostella,  and 
changed  his  name  to  Leander  de  Sancto  Martino.  Thence  he 
went  to  Douay,  where  he  was  made  Professor  of  Hebrew  and 
Divinity  in  the  College  of  St.  Vedastus,  where  he  remained  for 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  p.  498.     2ibid,  i.,  pp.  514-  515,  and  Williams'  Eminent 
Wehhmtiii  pp.  256-7. 

too 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

several  years.  He  afterwards  became  Prior  of  the  Benedictine 
College  of  St.  Gregory  at  Douay,  and  Vicar -general  to  the  English 
Benedictines  of  the  Spanish  congregations  living  outside  Spain. 
He  was  twice  president  or  Chief  Superior  of  the  same  Order  in 
England.  Wood  states  that  he  was  "  a  person  of  extraordinary 
eloquence,  generally  knowing  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  beloved  of 
all  that  knew  him  and  his  worth,  and  hated  by  none  but  by  the 
Puritans  and  Jesuits."  Towards  the  end  of  his  life,  Laud  invited 
him  to  England  to  confer  with  him  about  certain  important 
points  of  the  religious  controversy  then  raging,  and  Prynne  made 
considerable  use  of  this  fact  in  his  attacks  upon  Laud.  He  died 
in  1635. 

His  published  works  were  two  Latin  treatises  on  Divinity,  one 
of  them  a  kind  of  Concordance,  and  the  other  showing  the 
harmony  and  consistence  of  the  Scriptures.  They  are  entitled  : 
Sacra  ars  memorire  ad  Scripturas  divinas  in  promptu  habendas, 
memoriterque  ediscendas  accomodata,  Duac  1623."  And — 

"  Conciliatio  Locorum  communium  totius  Scripturse,"  which 
is  found  at  the  end  of  the  previous  work. 

He  also  left  behind  him  in  MS.  an  exposition  of  the  Bible 
with  Glosses,  in  six  large  volumes,  derived  from  the  works  of 
Ludovicus  Blosius,  which  had  been  published  in  1626. 

Archbishop  John  Williams  was  the  second  son  of 
Edmund  Williams,  of  Cochwillan  and  Aberconwy,  by  his  wife 
Mary,  daughter  of  Owen  Wynn  of  Eglwysbach.  He  was  born 
at  Aberconwy  in  1582,  and  educated  first  at  Ruthin  Grammar 
School,1  and  afterwards  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  which 
he  entered  at  16,  and  subsequently  became  Fellow.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  natural  abilities  and  also  a  great  student.  He  was 
ordained  when  27,  and  became  chaplain  to  Lord  Egerton,  the 
Lord  Chancellor.  In  1611-12  he  was  Proctor  at  Cambridge,  and 
entertained  the  Spanish  ambassadors  when  they  visited  that 
University.  He  held  several  benefices,  amongst  them  Grafton 
Regis  and  Underwood.  In  1613  he  was  made  Precentor  of 

'Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  526-530. 

aot 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Lincoln  and  Prebendary  of  that  Cathedral,  and  subsequently  held 
prebendships  at  Peterborough,  Hereford,  and  St.  David's.  In 
1619  he  became  chaplain  to  the  King,  a  Privy  Councillor,  and 
Dean  of  Salisbury,  and  in  the  following  year  Dean  of  Westminster. 
In  1621  he  was  appointed  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  through  the  influence,  it  is  said,  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  Laud,  who  differed  so  much  from  him  in  church- 
manship,  was  his  inveterate  enemy,  and  although  Bishop  Williams 
attended  King  James  on  his  death -bed,  he  did  not  crown  Charles 
I.,  for  that  honour  fell  to  Laud.  This  is  said  to  have  caused  him 
much  disappointment,  and  he  afterwards  joined  the  Puritans. 
In  1628  he  was  cited  by  the  Star  Chamber,  but  the  accusation 
lay  dormant  until  1632.  In  1637  he  was  fined  ,£10,000, 
imprisoned,  and  suspended  from  his  offices,  but  was  released  in 
1640,  and  for  a  time  became  the  idol  of  both  Houses.  At  this 
time  he  conferred  much  with  Edward  Bagshaw  and  Prynne.  In 
1641  he  preached  against  the  Book  of  Sports,  but  also  declaimed 
against  Geneva,  which  caused  him  to  decline  in  the  public  favour. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  translated  to  the  Archbishopric  of  York, 
and  he  returned  to  Wales  and  fortified  Conway  Castle  for  the 
King,  but  a  misunderstanding  arose  between  them,  and  Charles 
relieved  him  of  the  Castle,  whereupon  he  retired  to  Penrhyn  and 
declared  for  Parliament.  The  Royalists  at  this  time  called  him 
"  the  perfidious  prelate  and  apostate  Archbishop  of  York."1 

He  published  the  following  works  :  "  A  Sermon  of  apparel, 
before  the  King  and  Parliament,  at  Theobald's,  1619;"  "A 
Sermon  before  the  Lords,"  1623;  "Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of 
King  James,"  1625;  "  Perseverentia  Sanctorum,"  1628;  "Letter 
to  the  Vicar  of  Grantham,"  1636;  this  was  answered  by  Peter 
Heilyn  in  his  "  Coal  from  the  Altar."  Archbishop  Williams 
replied  to  the  latter  in  "  Holy  Table,  name,  and  thing  more 
antiently  used  under  the  New  Testament  than  that  of  Altar," 
1637;  "Annotations  in  Vet.  Test."  and  "in  Ephesios,"  1653] 
published  after  his  death,  under  the  name  fohan  Eboracensis. 

'  Athen  :  Oxon  :  i.  pp.  803-05. 
ZQZ 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

The  Archbishop  died  at  the  house  of  Lady  Mostyn,  at 
Gloddaeth,  in  1649,  and  was  buried  in  Llandegai  Church,  near 
Bangor,  "  in  a  little  vault  at  the  upper  end  of  the  chancel." '  On 
the  north  side  of  the  chancel  was  erected  a  monument  in  white 
marble,  by  his  nephew  and  heir,  Sir  Griffith  Williams,  with  a 
Latin  inscription  made  by  Dr.  John  Racket,  who  was  sometime 
the  Archbishop's  chaplain.  Bishop  Racket  also  wrote  his  bio- 
graphy, which  was  published  in  1693,  under  the  title  Scrinia 
Reservata.  Ambrose  Philips  also  wrote  a  "  Life  "  in  1706. 

Lewis  Owen,  a  native  of  Merionethshire,  who  entered 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  1590,  at  the  age  of  18,  and  afterwards 
travelled  on  the  Continent,  entering  the  Society  of  Jesus  at 
Valladolid  as  "  a  curious  observer," 2  and  who  "  satisfied  himself  of 
their  intrigues,"  3  left  them,  and  became  their  most  inveterate  foe, 
was  the  author  of  several  works  against  the  Jesuits,  the  chief  of 
which  are  :  "  The  Running  Register — a  true  relation  of  the  state 
of  the  English  Colleges,  £c.,  in  all  foreign  parts,  together  with  a 
brief  discourse  of  the  lives,  practices,  &c.,  of  English  Monks, 
Friars,  &  Jesuits."  1626.  This  was  followed  in  1628  by 
"  The  Unmasking  of  all  Papist  Monks,  or  a  treatise  of  their 
genealogy,  beginnings,  proceedings,  and  present  state."  In  1629 
he  issued  "  Speculum  Jesuiticum,  or,  the  Jesuit's  Looking  Glass, 
...  a  true  Catalogue  of  all  their  Colleges,  &c.,  and  a  true 
number  of  the  Fellows  of  their  Society."  The  last  two  works  are 
printed  at  the  end  of  Sir  Edward  Sandys'  Europa  Speculum,  which 
appeared  in  1629. 

John  White,  commonly  called  Century  White,  who  was 
born  at  Henllan,  in  Pembrokeshire/  in  1590,  educated  at  Jesus 
College,  Oxford,  1607,  aged  17,  and  afterwards  proceeded  to  the 
Middle  Temple  as  barrister -at -law,  was  an  extreme  Puritan  who 
acted  as  one  of  the  Feoffees  for  buying  in  impropriations,  which 
were  afterwards  bestov.-cd  on  the  Puritan  party.  In  1640  he  was 
M.P.  for  South wark,  and  distinguished  himselt  in  the  Long 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  684-5.     'Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.,  383. 
3  ibid.     4ibid,  p.  517. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Parliament  by  his  virulence  against  the  bishops.  He  once  boasted 
that  he  and  his  coadjutors  had  ejected  8,000  Churchmen  in  four 
or  five  years.1  He  published  several  of  his  speeches  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  besides  :  "  The  first  century  of  scandalous,  malignant 
priests,  &c.,"  .1643;  and  "The  Looking  Glass,"  written  against 
Episcopacy  in  1643-4.  The  violence 'of  his  views  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  quotation  taken  from  "  The  Looking 
Glass  ";  "  Malignant  Cavaliers  and  Luke-warm  Protestants,  who 
assist  the  King  in  this  War,  are  guilty  of  that  fearful  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost."  He  died  in  1644-5,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Temple  Church,  and  one  of  his  admirers  wrote  the  following 
epitaph  : 

Here  lyeth  a  John,  a  burning,  shining  light, 

His  Name,  Life,  Actions,  were  all   White. 

John  Owen  was  the  eldest  son  of  Owen  Owen,  Bodsilin, 
Aber,  near  Bangor,  who  was  Archdeacon  of  Anglesey  (1584-93), 
and  rector  of  Burton  Latimers,  Northants,  in  which  place  John 
Owen  was  born,  c  1580.  He  graduated  at  Christ  College,  Cam- 
bridge, 1596-7,  and  became  Fellow  of  his  College,  and  M.A.  in 
1600,  D.D.  in  1618.  He  was  appointed  chaplain  to  Charles  I., 
and  held  several  preferments  in  the  Church;  rector  of  Burton 
Latimers  in  1608  ;  rector  of  Carlton,  1625  ;  and  Cottingham  (all 
in  Northants),  in  1625.  In  1629  he  became  Archdeacon  and 
Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  holding  also  during  his  tenure  of  that  See, 
the  livings  of  Disserth,  Llanfyllin,  1631  :  Whitford,  1631  ; 
Rhuddlan,  1632  ;  Llanrhaiadr-ym-Moclmant,  1632  ;  Llanfechain, 
1632  ;  and  Llanrwst,  i644.2  He  was  greatly  esteemed  by  Laud, 
to  whom  he  doubtless  owed  much  of  his  advancement  in  the 
Church.  Canon  Williams  states  that  "  he  had  incomparable  skill 
in  the  Welsh  language."  3  There  are  several  entries  concerning 
him  in  Y  Cwtta  Cyfanvydd,  and  the  following  is  of  some  interest  : 
"Upon  which  day  [July  2nd,  1631]  Mr.  Morris  Jones,  vicar 
choral,  etc.,  made  the  first  sermon  in  Welsh  in  the  p'ish  church  of 
St.  Asaph  al's  Llanelwey,  by  my  Lord  Bishop's  order  and  decree 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp.  70,  71.     zSee  Thomas'  St.  Asaph,   pp.  98,  227. 
3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  379-80. 

204 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

and  my  lord  p'ched  in  his  Cathedrall  church  that  day."  l  In  1635 
he  set  up  a  new  organ  at  the  Cathedral.2  He  was  deprived, 
imprisoned,  and  fined  under  the  Commonwealth,  and  died  in  1651 
at  Aberkinsey,  in  Rhuddlan,  and  was  buried  under  the  throne  in 
St.  Asaph  Cathedral,  where  a  brass  has  recently  been  placed  to 
his  memory  by  his  representative,  William,  second  Lord  Harlech.3 

Hugh  Robinson  was  the  fifch  son  of  Bishop  Nicholas 
Robinson,  of  Bangor.  He  was  born  at  Llanfair,  Anglesey, 
educated  at  Winchester,  and  afterwards  became  Perpetual  Fellow 
of  New  College,  Oxford.  He  graduated  M.A.  in  1611,  and  was 
appointed  Head  Master  of  Winchester.  In  1634  he  became 
Archdeacon  of  Gloucester,  Canon  of  Wells,  and  Rector  of 
Dursley.  He  suffered  under  Cromwell,  but  afterwards  took  the 
Covenant  and  wrote  in  defence  of  it.  His  works  show  that  he 
was  an  excellent  linguist  and  able  divine  and  historian.  They 
are  as  follows  :  "  Preces;  written  for  the  use  of  the  children  at 
Winchester  School,  in  Latin  and  English";  "  Grammaticalia 
quaedam,"  in  Latin  and  English  ;  "  Antique  Historic  Synopsis"  ; 
all  of  which  were  printed  at  Oxford  in  1616  in  one  volume,  entitled 
" Schoke  Wintoniensis  Phrases  Latince."  He  died  in  1655,  but 
one  of  his  works  was  published  in  1677  under  the  title  Annalium 
Mundi  Universalium. 

Griffith  Williams,  Dean  of  Bangor  and  Bishop  of  Ossory, 
whose  tracts  written  during  the  Gvil  War  have  already  been 
noticed  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  work,  was  also  the  author  of 
several  other  works,  amongst  which  may  be  mentioned  :  "  The 
delights  of  the  Saints."  1622  ;  "  Seven  Gold  Candlesticks,"  1627  ; 
"The  true  Church  showed  10  all  men,"  1629;  "The  great 
Antichrist  revealed,"  1660;  "Seven  treatises  very  necessary  to  be 
observed  in  these  bad  days,"  1661  ;  "  The  Declaration  of  the  Just 
Judgment  of  God,"  1661  ;  "Truth  Vindicated,"  1666  :*  besides 
numerous  sermons.  Bishop  Williams  was  a  most  unswerving 
loyalist.  Wood  says  that  "of  the  means  which  he  had  in  Wales 

1  Y  Cwtta  Cyfcn-wydd,  p.  134.  2  ibid,  p.  161.  3  Hist,  of  St.  Asaph,  i. 
p.  228.  4  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  524-6. 

205 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

he  gave  unto  his  Majesty's  own  hands,  every  Winter  for  three 
'  Years  together,  the  Testimony  of  his  Loyalty  and  Affection,  to 
the  utmost  of  his  Power."1  He  himself  suffered  so  much  that 
"  for  twelve  years  together  he  had  not  ,£20  per  annum  in  all  the 
world,  to  maintain  himself  and  his  servants."2  He  refused  the 
offer  of  Henry  Cromwell,  then  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  of  a 
pension  of  £100  a  year  if  he  would  submit  to  the  Government.  3 
He  was  one  of  the  severest  critics  of  the  Parliament  in  all  his 
writings,  and  in  the  bulk  of  them  he  draws  comparisons  between 
Old  Testament  evils  and  those  of  his  own  day.  He  directed  one 
in  particular  against  Cromwell.  It  was  entitled  "  The  Tragedy 
of  Zimri  that  slew  his  King,  that  was  his  Master,"  a  sermon  based 
on  2  Kings  ix.  31.  He  was  restored  to  all  his  offices  at  the 
Restoration  and  returned  to  Ireland,  dying  in  that  country  in 
1671.  In  his  Will  he  bequeathed  his  lands  in  Ireland  "called 
Fermoile,  worth  forty  pounds  per  an.  to  be  settled  upon  eight  poor 
distressed  Widows,  for  whom  he  had  erected  eight  several 
Alms-houses  in  the  parish  of  St.  Kenny  in  his  own  diocese.'' 4 
He  also  left  a  charity  to  the  poor  at  Bangor.  Archbishop 
John  Williams  had  been  one  of  his  patrons,  and  for  the 
rest  he  owed  much  to  Philip,  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery, 
who  had  secured  for  him  the  bishopric  of  Ossory,  and  to  whom 
he  had  been  chaplain  for  many  years.  Griffith  Williams  in  the 
early  part  of  his  clerical  life  had  been  parson  of  St.  Bennet 
Sherbogg,  in  London. 

William  Thomas  (1613-1689),  who  belonged  to  a 
Carmarthenshire  family  (his  grandfather  was  Recorder  of  Car- 
marthen), but  was  born  at  Bristol  in  1613,  rose  to  eminence  in  the 
Church  as  Bishop  of  Worcester,  and  was  one  of  the  most  loveable 
characters  of  his  time.  He  was  educated  at  Carmarthen,  under 
Morgan  Owen,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaff.  In  1629  he 
entered  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  and  graduated  B.A.  in  1632, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  Jesus,  and  Tutor,  in  1634-5.  His  first  benefice 
was  Penybryn.  Card'ganshire,  and  he  aft. Awards  became  chaplain 

1A:ke<i  :  O.\on  :  ii.  j,p.  496-8.      Also  Walk  rs'  Sufferings  of  the   Cierg}>, 
partii.  p,  -.     *  i  ,id.     3  .?//w/z  .  Q.,O.,  .  ;i>  ,,    .  ;  ^ 

206 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

to  James,  Duke  of  York,  who  presented  him  to  the  vicarage  of 
Laugharn,  1638.  He  was  deprived  in  1644,  and  suffered  great 
hardships.1  Reinstated  at  the  Restoration,  he  became  Chantor 
of  St.  David's  1660,  and  D.D.  in  1661,  and  then  rector  of  Llan- 
bedr  Velvre,  Pembrokeshire  (1661-5).  As  chaplain  to  the  Duke 
of  York,  he  was  present  with  him  at  sea  in  his  engagement  against 
the  Dutch.  In  1665  he  was  appointed  Dean  of  Worcester,  and 
from  1678-83  was  Bishop  of  St.  David's.  He  did  much  for  that 
See,  repaired  the  palaces  at  Brecon  and  Abergwili,  preached  in 
Welsh,  and  helped  Stephen  Hughes  with  his  1677-8  edition  of 
the  Welsh  Bible.  In  1683  he  was  translated  to  the  bishopric  of 
Worcester,  and  gained  in  a  marked  degree  the  affection  of  his 
people.  He  regarded  himself  "  as  God's  steward,"  was  the  most 
generous  and  hospitable  of  men,  and  used  the  emoluments  of  his 
See  in  various  good  works.  He  died  in  1689,  and  was  buried  in 
the  cloisters  at  Worcester.  In  1678  he  wrote  "  An  Apology  for 
the  Church  of  England,  1678  ;"  he  also  published  many  sermons, 
and  amongst  them,  "  A  Sermon  preached  at  Carmarthen  Assizes, 
1659  ;"  and  "The  Manna  of  Unrighteousness,  1688,"  preached 
at  Worcester  Cathedral. 

Thomas  Jones,  son  of  John  Williams,  was  born  at 
Oswestry,  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Rebellion,  became  Fellow  of  University  College,  by  the  authority 
of  the  Parliamentary  Visitors,  in  1 648,  submitted  to  the  Covenant 
and  proceeded  to  his  B.A.  degree  in  1649,  M.A.  in  1652* 

He  wrote,  in  1652,  Vita  Edivardi  Simsoni  S.  T.  D.  ex 
ipsius  mttographo  excerpta,  which  is  prefixed  to  Simson's  Chronicon 
Catholifitm.  About  1654  he  is  supposed  to  have  received 
episcopal  ordination,  and  he  was  appointed  rector  of  Castell 
Caereinion  in  1655.  In  order  to  minister  in  that  parish,  he 
learned  the  Welsh  language.  He  was  ejected  in  1661,  and 
became  domestic  and  naval  chaplain  to  James,  Duke  of  York,  in 
1663,  but  was  dismissed  in  1666,  and  retired  to  the  rectory  of 

1  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  489-90  ;  At  hen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  835.  3  Athtn  : 
Oxon:  ii.,  pp.  710-11. 

207 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Llandyrnog,  which  he  still  held,  but  became  obnoxious  to  the 
Bishop  of  Bangor.  In  1670  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  brought 
an  action  for  slander  against  him,1  and  he  was  fined  ^300  and  his 
living  sequestered.  He  wrote,  in  1678,  "  Of  the  Heart  and  its 
right  Sovereign  :"  and  "Rome  no  Mother-Church  to  England." 
This  was  the  time  of  the  Popist  Plot,  and  the  book  was  an 
historical  account  of  the  title  of  the  English  Church.  In  1682  he 
published  "  Elymas  the  Sorcerer :  or  a  Memorial  towards  the 
discovery  of  the  bottom  of  this  Popist  Plot,"  in  which  he  relates 
the  particulars  of  his  quarrels.  Wood  states  that  this  book  was 
undertaken  in  spleen  against  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  it 
insinuated  that  the  latter  was  in  part  responsible  for  the  Duchess 
of  York's  declaration  in  favour  of  Popery.  The  Bishop  meant  to 
prosecute  him,  but  he  died  before  proceedings  were  instituted 
against  him,  in  1682.  Anthony  Wood  describes  him  as  "a 
person  who  was  troubled  with  a  rambling  and  sometimes  craz'd 
pate."  - 

Edward  Evans,  a  Denbighshire  man,  educated  at  Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  whither  he  went  in  1598,  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
and  took  his  B.  A.  degree,  1603,  M.A.  in  1607,  became  a  noted 
preacher  of  his  time  at  the  University.  He  published  four  of  his 
University  Sermons  under  the  title  "  Verba  Dierum,  or  the  day's 
report  of  God's  glory,"  based  on  Psalm  xix.  2,  and  printed  at 
Oxford,  1615.3 

Lewis  Thomas  (alias  Evans)  4,  Scholar  of  Brasenose 
College,  Oxford,  Matriculated  1584,  aged  16,  took  an  arts  degree, 
B.A.  1586-7,  proceeded  to  Holy  Orders  and  became  beneficed 
in  the  County  of  Gla'Tiorgan.  He  published  "  Certain  Lectures 
upon  sundry  portions  of  Scripture,"  1600  ;  "  A  Comment  on  the 
Decalogue,"  and  "Seven  Sermons  or  the  Exercises  of  Seven 
Sabbaths." 

William  Thomas,  "  a  Welshman  born,"  as  Wood  describes 
him,  was  educated  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  1616,  aged  14  years, 
left  there  without  a  degree,  and  was  chosen  Burgess  for  the  town 
lAthen:  Oxon:  ii.,  p.  711.  2ibid,  p.  712.  3  ibid,  i-,  p.  343. 
*ibid,  p.  381. 
208 


R  ELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

of  Carnarvon  to  sit  in  the  1640  Parliament.  He  at  first  showed 
himself  a  bitter  enemy  against  both  Charles  and  the  Church,  but 
afterwards,  seeing  the  desperate  courses  Parliament  resorted  to, 
he  left  them  and  joined  the  King  at  Oxford.  In  the  1640  Parlia- 
ment he  had  spoken  violently  against  the  Church,  especially 
against  Bishops  sitting  in  Parliament,  and  he  made  a  speech, 
which  was  afterwards  printed,  "  declaring  the  Office  of  Dean  to  be 
of  little  use.1  When  he  espoused  the  King's  cause,  he  did  so  most 
ardently,  with  the  result  that  in  1650  he  had  to  compound  for 
his  estates  for  being  a  Royalist.  His  speeches  in  Parliament  were 
the  only  work  of  his  that  was  published. 

John  Ellis,  of  Gwylan,  a  native  of  Llandecwyn,2  Merioneth- 
shire, entered  as  a  student  at  Hart  Hall,  Oxford,  in  1617,  aged 
18,  took  his  B.A.  in  1621-2,  and  M.A.  in  1625.  He  became 
Fellow  of  Jesus  College  in  1628,  B.D.  in  1632,  and  D.D.  of  St. 
Andrew's  University  in  1634.  From  1629-47  he  was  Rector  of 
Wheatfield,  Oxon,  and  afterwards,  1646  to  his  death  in  1666, 
Rector  of  Dolgelley.  He  was  an  ardent  educationalist.  His 
published  works  are  :  "  Clavis  fidei,  seu  brevia  quaedam  dictata  in 
symbolum  Apostolorum,  1642."  Translated  into  English  by 
William  Fowler  in  1669.  "Comment  in  Obadiarn  Proph., 
1641";  "  Vindiciae  Catholic^,'  1647;  and  "  Defensio  Fidei," 
1660.3 

Henry  Maurice,  D.D.,  was  a  very  learned  and  talented 
Divine,  the  son  of  Thomas  Maurice,  Rector  of  Llangristiolus,* 
Anglesey,  where  he  was  born  in  1648.  He  was  educated  at 
Beaumaris  Grammar  School,  proceeded  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
in  1664,  and  was  tutored  there  by  Thomas  Ellis  aforementioned. 
He  took  his  degrees,  and  became  Fellow  of  his  college,  and  after 
holding  a  curacy  at  Cheltenham,  he  returned  to  Oxford,  "  and 
grew  eminent  for  virtue  and  learning."5  He  attracted  the  attention 
of  Sir  Leoline  Jenkins,  the  then  Principal,  who  asked  him  to 

1  Athen  :  Oxon:  ii.,  p.  48.  -Alumni  Oxon:  3Atken:  Oxon:  ii., 
pp.  361-2.  4  Cambrian  Register,  1796,  p.  263.  s  rftAen  :  Oxon  :  pp.  872-875. 
Also  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  317. 

209 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

attend  him  as  chaplain  in  his  embassy  to  Neomagin,  where  he 
was  sent  as  Plenipotentiary  in  1675.  He  remained  abroad  three 
years,  and  soon  after  his  return,  in  1680,  through  the  efforts  of 
Bishop  Lloyd  of  St.  Asaph,  he  became  domestic  chaplain  to 
Archbishop  Sandcroft  of  Canterbury,1  and  was  a  very  prominent 
figure  amongst  the  Archbishop's  entourage,  who  afterwards 
presented  him  to  the  benefice  of  Chevening  in  Kent.  He 
subsequently  held  the  sinecure  rectory  of  Llandrillo,  became 
Chancellor  of  Chichester  in  1681,  and  lastly  Rector  of  Newington 
in  Oxfordshire,  in  succession  to  Dr.  Stradling,  in  1685.  In  1691 
he  was  appointed  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford  and 
Prebendary  of  Worcester,  but  he  died  suddenly  in  that  same  year. 
He  was  one  of  the  noted  Welshmen  of  this  century,  and  Wood 

describes  him  as  "  a  person  of  imcomparable  learning, 

extraordinary  memory,  and  a  clear  and  ready  wit.  He  was  also 
an  extempore  preacher  of  great  power."  During  his  stay  on  the 
Continent  he  had  collected  a  number  of  valuable  books  which, 
after  his  decease,  were  placed  in  Jesus  College  Library.2  He  was 
the  author  of  several  controversial  works,  which  show  his  zeal 
towards  the  Church  of  England,  her  doctrine  and  discipline,  and 
his  invincible  courage  in  defending  and  supporting  her.  He  was 
a  most  strenuous  opponent  both  of  Rome  and  of  Dissent.  His 
works  are: 

1.  "A   Vindication   of  the   Primitive   Church   and    Diocesan 
Episcopacy,"   1682.     An  answer  to  Mr.  Baxter's    "Church 
History  of  Bishops  and  their  Councils   abridged."     In  this 
work   Henry  Maurice  exposed  Mr.  Baxter's  "  small  insight 
into  antiquity." 

2.  "  The  Antithelemite,"  or  an  answer  to  certain  queries  of  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  1685. 

3.  "  The  Project,"  &c.,  written  upon  the  occasion  of  the  Popist 
Judges  haranguing  in  their  Circuits  against  the  Established 
Religion,  1688. 

4.  "  Doubts  concerning   the  Roman   Infallibility,"  1688,  after- 
1  Cambrian  Register,  p.  264.     2ibid,  1796.  p.  263. 

2IO 


RELIGIOUS  AX!)  MORAL  WRITINGS 

wards  printed   amongst  other  tracts  against   Popery  in  the 
Preservative. 

5.  "  Defence  of  Diocesan   Episcopacy:  or  an  Answer  to   Mr. 
David  Clarkson's  book  entitled  Primitive  Episcopacy,"  1691. 

In  his  Memoir  by  a  friend  given  in  the  Cambrian  Register  for 
1 796,  he  is  described  as  "a  person  of  excellent  strong  natural  parts, 
improved  by  study,  and  the  most  elegant  conversation  to  be  met 
amongst  the  most  eminent  of  his  profession,  for  they  all  courted 
his  friendship.  .  .  .  Bishop  Hooper  and  he  were  like  brothers.  .  . 
He  spoke  with  that  clearness  of  expression,  and  with  that  quick- 
ness and  strength  of  judgment,  that  he  seemed  to  want  no 
deliberation,  having  all  his  notions  so  ready  and  at  command." 
The  same  personal  friend  informs  us  that  he  died  "  about  the 
45th  year  of  his  age."  His  friends  erected  him  a  monument  in 
Jesus  College  Chapel.1 

Jonathan  Edwards  (1629-1712)  was  born  at  Wrexham,  in 
1629,  entered  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  1655  ;  B.A.  1659  ;  became 
Fellow  of  Jesus  in  1662,  M.A.  1662,  B.D.  1669.  He  afterwards 
held  the  benefice  of  Kiddington,  near  Woodstock,  and  became 
Principal  of  Jesus  College  in  1686  in  succession  to  John  Lloyd.* 
He  was  Vice -Chancellor  of  the  University  from  1689  to  1691. 
In  1687  he  became  Treasurer  of  Llandaff,  and  in  1601  he  had 
been  appointed  Rector  of  Hinton-Ampner,  in  Hampshire,* 
besides  holding  two  benefices  in  Wales.  His  chief  work  was  "  A 
Preservative  against  Socinianism,"  which  appeared  in  1693,  but 
the  work  was  not  completed  until  ten  years  later.  Part  ii. 
appeared  in  1694,  part  iii.  in  1697,  and  part  iv.  in  1703.  In  this 
work  he  treated  Faustus  Socinus  not  as  a  heretic,  but  as  the 
founder  of  a  new  religion.  By  the  time  the  work  was  finished, 
the  Socinian  controvesry  was  practically  over,  and  its  place  taken 
by  the  Arian  controversy.  Jonathan  Edwards  died  in  1712,  and 
was  buried  in  the  chapel  of  Jesus  College.  He  left  his  books  to 
the  library  of  that  college,  and  ^1,000  for  repairs  to  the  building, 

\  Cambrian  Register,  1796,  p.  269.       -  D  N>  B,      * Atficu :  Own;  ii.  p, 
1093  ;  also  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen* 

811 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Richard  Lucas  was  born  at  Presteign,  in  Radnorshire,  in 
1648,  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1664,  took  the  B.A. 
degree  in  1668,  and  M.A.  in  1672.'  He  afterwards  became 
Master  of  the  Free  School  at  Abergavenny,  vicar  of  St.  Stephen's, 
Coleman  Street,  London,  and,  in  1691,  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and 
Prebendary  of  Westminster  in  1696.  He  was  blind  for  many 
years  before  his  death,  which  happened  in  1715.  He  wrote  many 
valuable  works,  which,  as  Canon  Williams  remarks,  "  will  transmit 
his  name  with  honour  to  posterity."  The  chief  of  them  are  : 

"  Practical  Christianity  :  or,  an  Account  of  the  Holiness 
which  the  Gospel  enjoyns,  with  the  Motives  to  it,  and  the 
Remedies  it  proposes  against  Temptations."  167 — ,  and  1681. 

"An  enquiry  after  Happiness,"  1685,  his  most  important 
work,  in  two  volumes.  It  went  through  many  editions,  and  was 
deservedly  esteemed. 

He  was  also  the  author  of  several  series  of  sermons,  some  of 
them  preached  at  St.  Stephens,  Coleman  Street,  others  before  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  London,  one  before  the  Queen,  at 
Kensington,  and  others  before  their  Majesties,  at  Whitehall. 

In  1680,  he  translated  from  English  into  Latin  The  whole 
duty  of  Man,  under  the  title  Officium  Hominis,  &c. 

Humphrey  Humphreys  was  the  eldest  son  and  heir  of 
Richard  Humphreys,  of  Penrhyn  Dcuclraeth,  Merionethshire,  and 
of  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  Robert  Wynn,  of  Cesailgyfarch, 
Carnarvonshire.2  He  was  born  in  1648,  began  his  education  at 
Oswestry,  under  the  care  of  his  uncle,  Humphrey  Wynn,  M.A., 
Vicar  and  Schoolmaster,  and  then  proceeded  to  Jesus  College, 
Oxford,  in  1665.  He  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1669,  was  scholar 
in  1670,  and  became  M.A.  and  Fellow  in  1672;  B.D.,  1680; 
D.D.,  1682.  He  was  ordained  Deacon  and  Priest  at  Bangor  in 
1670,  by  Bishop  Robert  Morgan,  and  afterwards  held  the  livings 
of  Llanfrothen  ( 1670)  and  Trawsfynydd,  in  Merionethshire  (1672). 
Becoming  chaplain  to  Dr.  Humphrey  Lloyd,  Bishop  of  Bangor, 
in  1673,  he  was  promoted  first  to  a  canonry  in  that  Cathedral, 

1 A  then  \  Oxon  ;  ii.,  p.  1093.     "ibid,  ii.,  1183. 
«U 


RELIGIOUS   ANT)   MORAL  WRITINGS 

1680,  and  afterwards  to  the  Deanery,  1682.  He  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Bishop  Robert  Morgan.  In  1689,  on  the 
death  of  Bishop  Humphrey  Lloyd,  he  was  appointed  his  successor, 
being  afterwards  translated,  in  1701,  to  the  See  of  Hereford.  He 
died  in  171 2,  and  was  interred  near  the  altar  of  his  Cathedral  at 
Hereford.  He  was  very  well  versed  in  the  antiquities  of  Wales, 
and  wrote  some  memoirs  of  Eminent  Welshmen  in  addition 
to  those  contained  in  Wood's  Athcnac  Oxonienses.  The 
"  Additions  "  are  printed  in  the  last  edition  of  that  work,  and  in 
the  first  volume  of  the  Cambrian  Register  for  1795,  pp.  155-160, 
where  a  biographical  notice  of  the  bishop  is  subjoined.1 

John  Owen  :  an  eminent  divine  amongst  the  Independents, 
was  the  son  of  Henry  Owen,  Vicar  of  Stadham,  near  Watlington, 
in  Oxfordshire,2  where  he  was  born  in  1616,3  and  entered 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  in  1628,  lie  being  a  youth  of  exceptional 
ability.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1632,  and  AT. A.  in  1635.  He 
refused  to  comply  with  Laud's  new  statutes,  and  left  Oxford  on 
that  account  in  1637.  He  took  Holy  Orders,  however,  and 
became  chaplain  to  John  L.  Lovelace,  of  Hurley,  in  Berkshire. 
When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  he  sided  with  the  Parliament.  He 
took  the  Covenant,  and  was  made  minister  of  Forclham,  in  Essex, 
and  afterwards  of  Coggleshall,  in  the  same  county.  In  the 
former  place  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  but  in  the  latter  he  became 
an  Independent.  WTood,  who  bore  him  no  love,  declares  that  in 
doing  this  "  he  became  endeared  to  Oliver  Cromwell,"  •»  who 
afterwards  held  him  in  high  esteem,  and  frequently  relied  on  his 
counsel.  After  the  execution  of  Charles  L,  he  preached  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  justice  of  his  fate,  and  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Thanksgiving  at  Christ  Church,  in  London, 
for  Cromwell's  victory  over  the  Levellers  in  1649.  In  March, 
1651,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Parliament  Dean  of  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  and  took  an  active  part  in  disseminating  Cromwell's 
views  in  the  University,  but  encountered  great  opposition  from 

'Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  227.  7  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  737. 
3  Williams'  Eminent  ]Vthhnitn,  p.  380.  This  d;Ue  seems  doubtful.  4  .If hen  : 
Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  738. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

his  former  friends,  the  Presbyterians.  In  1652  he  was  made 
Vice -Chancellor  of  Oxford,  and  shocked  that  University  by  his 
disregard  of  conventions.  In  1654  he  was  appointed  a  Commis- 
sioner, and  in  the  same  year  stood  to  be  elected  burgess  by  the 
University,  but  sat  but  a  short  time  in  Parliament.  Wood  charges 
him  with  great  want  of  reverence,  and  mentions  his  disrespect 
during  the  recital  of  the  Lord's  Prayer J  on  some  occasions  at 
Oxford. 

In  1657,  when  Richard  Cromwell  was  elected  Chancellor  of 
the  University,  Owen  was  removed  from  the  Vice-Chancellorship, 
and  in  1659  he  was  ousted  from  the  Deanery  of  Christ  Church 
and  retired  to  Stadham,  his  birthplace,  where  he  had  bought 
some  land.  He  was  excepted  from  the  Act  of  Oblivion  at  the 
Restoration,  but  nevertheless,  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  treated 
him  kindly,  and  asked  him,  if  he  could  not  conform,  to  use  his 
energy  and  ability  against  the  Papists.  In  spite  of  Wood's  evident 
antagonism  and  prejudice,  he  quotes  some  very  favourable 
opinions  of  John  Owen,  and  amongst  them  those  of  Edward 
Stillingfleet  and  Henry  Dodwell,  and  himself  admits  that  "  his 
personage  was  proper  and  comely,  and  he  had  a  very  graceful 
behaviour  in  the  Pulpit,  an  eloquent  elocution,  a  winning  and 
insinuating  deportment,  and  could  by  the  persuasion  of  his  oratory 
.  .  .  move  and  wind  the  affections  of  his  admiring  Auditory 
almost  as  he  pleased."2  Several  instances  are  given  by  Canon 
Williams  in  his  Eminent  Welshmen  of  Owen's  moderation,  notably 
in  the  case  of  Dr.  Willis,  whom  he  allowed  to  use  the  Liturgy 
unmolested,  and  that  of  Dr.  Edward  Pococke. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  active  writers  of  that  age,  and  the 
titles  of  his  works  fill  six  columns  in  the  History  of  Oxford  JJ'ri/ers. 
Most  of  them  are  sermons,  or  polemical  works  on  the  religious 
controversies  of  those  times.  Salus  Electorum  Sangnis  Jesu  is 
one  of  his  most  substantial  works.  In  it  the  whole  controversy  of 
universal  redemption  is  fully  discussed  in  four  books.  He  wrote 
other  works  against  the  tenets  of  Hugh  Grotius  and  those  of  John 

1  Athen  :  Own  :  ii.,  p,  739.     2ibid,  ii.,  p.  741. 
214 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  WRITINGS 

Goodwin,  as  well  as  those  of  Dr.  William  Sherlock,  and  had  also 
much  pen  warfare  with  Dr.  Stillingfleet.  His  expositions  on 
various  passages  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  are  considered 
very  able.  He  died  in  1683. 

John  Price  was  born  of  Welsh  parents  in  London,1 
educated  at  Westminster  School,  and  proceeded  to  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  in  1617,  left  the  University  without  a  degree,  and  was 
taken  into  the  household  of  one  of  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of 
Arundel.  He  then  went  overseas  to  "  a  certain  University,"  which 
is  not  named  by  Wood,2  returned  to  England,  and  was  of  the 
retinue  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  when  the  latter  was  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland.  There  he  became  acquainted  with  Archbishop  Usher. 
Price  subsequently  defended  Strafford  against  charges  made  by 
Parliament,  and  \vas  cast  into  prison.  Regaining  his  freedom,  he 
again  went  over  seas,  and  settled  about  1652  at  Florence  in 
Italy.  The  Duke  of  Tuscany  made  him  Professor  of  Greek  in 
the  University  of  Pisa,  where  he  was  highly  esteemed  for  his 
patristic  knowledge  and  linguistic  attainments. 

He  wrote  a  work  on  Plato's  philosophy,  which  he  printed  at 
Paris  in  1635.  In  1646  he  issued  Annotations  in  cpistolam  Jacobi, 
In  1647,  Ac/a  Apostolorum  ex  S.pagina,  sanctis  Patribus  Griceisque 
ac  Latinis  Gentium  scriptoribus  illustrata.  He  also  wrote  a 
Commentary  on  St.  Matthew,  and  this  with  those  on  St.  James 
and  the  Acts,  just  mentioned,  were  printed  in  London  in  1660  in 
Commentarii  in  varies  Novi  Testamenti  libros.  Another  Com- 
mentary by  Price  on  the  Psalms  was  published  in  the  same  series 
in  1660. 

Price  left  Tuscany  and  went  to  Rome,  where  he  joined  the 
retinue  of  the  famous  Cardinal  Francis  Barberini,3  "  the  Protector 
of  the  English  nation,"  as  Wood  styled  him,  He  spent  his  last 
days  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Augustine,  where  he  died  in  1676, 


'''•Eminent  Welshmen ',  p.  417.     -  Atkcn\  Oxoti  :  ii.  p.  582.    .3 ibid 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

(a)  WELSH  POETRY. 

(b)  ENGLISH  AND  LATIN  POEMS. 


(a)  WELSH  POETRY. 

THE  dynasty  of  the  Tudors  ended  in  1603,  and  the  bardic 
conventions  in  Wales,  which  had  received  their  royal 
sanction,  seem  to  have  ended  with  them.  The  bards  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  for  the  most  part,  failed  to  comply  with  the 
tests  in  versification,  in  its  rules  and  principles,  which  their  more 
highly  gifted  predecessors  had  imposed,  or,  perhaps,  the  attempt 
to  observe  them  had  crushed  out  inspiration,  and  very  little  of 
real  worth  was  produced  in  this  century,  written  In  the  confined 
metres  approved  by  the  official  bards,  and  in  cynghanedd.  There 
came  no  incentive  to  bardism  from  the  higher  circles.  It  could 
hardly  have  been  expected  from  the  Stuarts,  who  had  no  ties  with 
Wales,  and  who  were  engrossed  chiefly  in  establishing  the  theory 
of  the  Divine  right  of  Kings,  and  afterwards  in  saving  their 
toppling  throne,  which  Englishmen  could  never  allow  to  rest  on 
such  a  foundation.  As  far  as  royal  patronage  was  concerned,  the 
bards  were  left  entirely  to  their  own  devices. 

The  stirring  times  of  the  Civil  Wars  seem  to  have  suggested 
very  little  to  their  fancy  and  imagination,  and  men  had  neither 
the  time  nor  the  inclination  to  study  the  artificial  rules  of  versifi- 
cation, which  had  produced  the  twenty -four  metres,  and  to  apply 
them  in  bardic  exercises  undertaken  more  for  the.  sake  of  the 
ingenuity  required  in  carrying  out  the  rules  of  the  profession,  than 
for  giving  expression  in  poetic  garb  to  themes  which  pressed  for 
utterance  ,  and  would  not  be  denied  it,  because  they  were  urgent 
and  all-absorbing.  The  most  eminent  bard  of  the  century  broke 
away  from  the  conventions  which  had  governed  the  fraternity  for 
many  decades,  and  the  bulk  of  his  poetry  is  written  in  the  free 
metres.  For  the  most  part,  the  only  compositions  attempted,  or 
sought  after,  were  an  occasional  elegiac  cywydd,  a  dyri  adapted  to 
the  popular  taste,  or  Christmas  carols  for  use  at  the  Pfygain,  the 
early  service  of  song  held  in  the  churches'  on  Christmas  Day. 

219 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

This  service  was  an  institution  which  had  taken  firm  hold, 
especially  in  rural  Wales,  and  it  still  survives  in  some  remote  parts 
of  the  country. 

It  took  Wales  more  than  a  century  to  complete  the  discom- 
fiture of  those  poetasters  against  whom  measures  had  been 
directed  at  the  Eisteddfod  of  Caenvys.  The  truth  is  that  the 
itinerant  bards,  or  ckrwyr,  as  they  were  termed,  had  been 
accustomed  to  build  up  the  rhyme  on  a  more  material  foundation 
than  the  Muse  is  supposed  to  require.  The  majority  of  them 
were  ignorant  mendicants,  and  a  very  shrewd  blow  was  struck  at 
them  by  the  requirements  laid  down  at  that  Eisteddfod  in  1568. 
So  that  before  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  their  ranks  had  been 
considerably  depleted.  That  event  destroyed  their  last  hope,  for 
such  gentry  as  continued  to  succour  them  were  now  absorbed  in 
internecine  strife,  and  were  unable  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
services  of  even  the  superior  pencerdd  or  bardd  teulu,  not  to 
mention  the  low  grade  bard,  who  passed  under  the  name  clenv?\ 
and  was  already  an  outcast  in  the  eyes  of  respectable  members  of 
the  profession. 

Such  members  of  the  Welsh  aristocracy  as  survived  the 
Civil  Wars,  and  as  Wales  was  Royalist  in  sympathy  there  were 
but  few  who  escaped  with  life  and  property  intact,  had  formed  so 
close  an  intercourse  with  England  that  their  national  customs, 
however  excellent,  was  worn  away  considerably.  The  patronage 
given  to  the  bards,  which  was  already  on  the  wane  in  pre- Civil 
War  days,  now  became  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  many  of  the  old 
manners  and  customs  were  looked  upon  as  barbarous.  So  there 
was  very  little  encouragement  for  the  practice  of  poetry  on  the 
old  lines  of  laborious  and  intricate  compositions.  Penillioii, 
Interludes,  and  Songs  were,  in  the  main,  the  productions  of  this 
centuiy.  Penillion,  of  "course,  originated  in  earlier  times.  The 
bards  used  them  chiefly  for  mnemonic  purposes,  to  fill  men's 
minds  with  a  store  of  maxims.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to 
find  men  who  could  sing  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  harp  some 
hundreds  of  these  penillion, 
220 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

The  Interludes  came  later.  It  is  not  exactly  certain  when 
they  were  introduced,  and  they  were  deemed  an  inferior  form  of 
verse,  but  they  date,  at  least,  from  the  beginning  of  this  period. 

Song-writing  came  later  in  North  Wales  than  it  did  in  South 
Wales.  It  certainly  was  not  popular  in  the  North  until  the  time 
of  Charles  I.,  and  it  is  the  bard  whose  work  will  now  be  con- 
sidered, who  brought  it  into  general  favour  in  Gwynedd. 

Hliw  Morns,  although  not  a  sun  in  the  poetic  firmament, 
was,  at  least,  a  brilliant  star  in  comparison  with  any  other  Welsh 
versifier  of  that  age,  Edward  Morus  alone  excepted,  for  they  both 
helped  to  light  up  the  darkness  .and  dispel  something  of  the 
gloom  which  had  settled  upon  Cambrian  poetry. 

Huw  Morus  was  the  third  son  of  a  respectable  freeholder 
living  on  his  own  patrimony  at  Pont-y-meibion,  in  the  valley  of 
Ceiriog,  in  the  parish  of  Llansilin,  Denbighshire,  and  was  born  at 
that  farm- house  in  1622.  Nothing  is  known  of  his  early  educa- 
tion, but  from  his  first  youth  he  showed  a  facility  for  verse,  which 
belongs  only  to  innate  genius.  When  quite  young  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  tanner,  who  lived  in  a  house  called  Givaliau^ 
near  Overtoil  in  Flintshire.  His  biographer  in  the  Cambrian 
Register'1  asserts  that  he  quitted  this  work  before  the  end  of  his 
term  of  apprenticeship.  This  does  not  agree  with  the  evidence  in 
one  of  his  Juvenile  Songs,  in  which  he  states  that  he  stayed  the 
usual  seven  years,  although  he  regarded  with  unconcealed  disgust 
the  restrictions  placed  upon  his  liberty.  It  would  appear  that  his 
master  was  a  martinet,  who  forbade  him  under  heavy  penalties 
any  intercourse  with  the  fair  sex : 

Bum  felly  saith  mlynedd  .... 

Heb  feiddiaw  cael  cusan  llancesi, 
Mi  awn  ffwrdcl  ar  hynt,  fel  y  gwynt, 
Rhag  fforffetio  deugain  punt. 

At  the  end  of  these  seven  years,  however,  he  returned  to 

Pont-y-meibion,  and  worked  with  his  brother  on  the  farm.     He 

now  began  to  write  poems,  most  of  them  amatory  songs  adapted 

to  lyrical  metres.     Mawl  Merck  was  his  first  theme,  although  in 

•Vol.  i.  p.  427,  Article  by  David  SamwelK 


WALES  IN   THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

those  early  days  he  composed  some  sacred  dramas  and  some 
comedies,  very  few  of  which  have  been  preserved.  He  was  a 
frequent  and  welcome  guest  at  many  country  seats  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Glyn  Ceiriog,  especially  at  Porkington,  whose  owner, 
Mr.  Owen,  became  his  principal  patron  and  friend.  Huw  Morus 
had  not  much  book  learning,  but  he  had  a  fertile  imagination  and 
a  heart  full  of  virtuous  sentiments,  which,  no  doubt,  made  him 
an  admirable  companion. 

A  man  from  whose  pen  everything  flowed  with  such  felicity 
and  ease,  in  whose  writings  we  find  nothing  forced,  and  no  sign  of 
laborious  effort,  could  hardly  fail  to  be  sought  after  by  his  neigh- 
bours, and  to  win  the  esteem  of  Welshmen,  who  are  always  ready 
to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  the  muses.  His  poems  show  that  he 
eminently  excelled  in  that  quality  of  humour  which  is  at  once 
harmless  and  delightful.  The  variety  of  his  themes  discloses  a 
mind  which  could  adapt  itself  to  many  conditions.  He  had  a 
deep  sense  of  justice,  and  his  sympathies  were  readily  given  to 
those  who  suffered  injustice,  and  in  some  of  his  poems  he  made 
bold  to  wage  war  against  private  acts  of  injustice  which  came  to 
his  notice.  For  instance,  it  had  come  to  his  knowledge  that  an 
estate  in  Bromfield  had  been  diverted  from  its  rightful  heir  by  a 
forged  will,  which  the  dead  hand  of  the  previous  owner  had  been 
guided  to  subscribe.  Huw  Morus,  in  four  biting  satires,  severely 
dealt  with  the  principals  in  this  revolting  episode.  The  poems 
are  known  as  "  Cerddi  y  Tiroedd  Taerion."  In  one  of  them  he 
presents  the  striking  image  that  the  bells  of  Ruabon  Church  rang 
out  at  midnight  of  their  own  volition,  when  this  dread  deed  was 
perpetrated. 

Despite  the  playfulness  of  his  Muse  in  the  Juvenile  poems, 
he  was  a  man  of  exemplary  life,  and  was  looked  upon  by  his 
contemporaries  almost  as  one  divinely  inspired.  He  had  studied 
the  Scriptures  deeply,  and  disseminated  their  principles  among  his 
countrymen,  and  his  writings  are  known  to  have  had  an  influence 
upon  the  habits  and  morals  of  the  common  people.  He  used  his 
keen  wit  and  barbed  sarcasm  unmercifully  against  cant  and 

222 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

hypocrisy,  and  in  this  has  well  deserved  the  title  sometimes  given 
him,  the  Hudibras  of  Wales. 

He  often  employed  his  friendly  offices  as  arbitrator  in  local 
feuds,  and  he  was  always  ready  to  plead  the  cause  of  his  poorer 
fellow -bards,  and  of  widows  and  orphans,  with  those  who  were 
opulent  in  this  world's  goods. 

In  politics  he  was  a  devoted  Royalist,  and  during  the  Civil 
Wars  remained  a  staunch  friend  of  Charles  I.  He  used  his  pen 
unstintingly  in  the  King's  cause,  and  his  poems  leave  one  in  no 
doubt  as  to  his  views  on  matters  of  Church  and  State.  It  has 
been  said  that  North  Wales  was  more  loyal  to  the  King  than  any 
other  part  owing  to  the  vast  influence  of  his  writings.1  Even 
after  Cromwell  had  triumphed,  he  continued  to  express  his  loyal 
sentiments  in  the  form  of  allegorical  visions.  The  allusions  were 
veiled,  but  were  well  understood  by  those  who  knew  the  bard. 
He  employed  his  Muse,  however,  with  great  prudence  and  dis- 
cretion during  those  dangerous  times,  and  escaped  the  vengeance 
wreaked  upon  Rowland  Vaughan,  of  Caergai,  whose  mansion  the 
Roundheads  burned  to  the  ground,  and  upon  William  Phylip,  of 
Ardudwy,  the  septuagenarian  bard,  who  was  compelled  to  take 
refuge  in  the  Merionethshire  mountains.  Huw  Morus  was  not 
less  loyal  than  these  two,  but  more  prudent.  He  waited  until  the 
danger  was  over,  before  he  explained  his  allegories. 

He  was  a  great  carol  writer  and  received  applications  from 
all  parts  of  North  Wales,  even  as  late  as  his  eighty -sixth  year,  for 
carols  to  be  sung  at  the  early  Plygain  Service  on  the  day  of  our 
Lord's  Nativity.  The  present  writer,  when  ministering  in  a  remote 
part  of  Wales,  heard  several  of  his  carols  sung,  which  had  been 
transmitted  by  oral  tradition,  although  the  singers  were  quite 
unaware  of  their  origin.  Huw  Moms'  antipathy  to  Popish  errors 
comes  out  strongly  in  some  of  them,  e.g., 

Mab  Duw  o'r  uchelne' — 

Nid  Paban  y  delwau, 

Sy  'n  cadw  agoriadau  gwarediad. 

In  all  his  carols  he  shows  the  work  of  a  devotional  mind  and 
1  Gwaith  Givalller  Michain,  iii.,  p.  27. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

one  well  versed  in  the  Scriptures.  He  lamented  the  disregard  of 
Christmas,  which  had  crept  in  under  the  Commonwealth,  in  one 
of  the  best  known  of  his  carols,  "  Carol  Gwyliau  a  wnaed  yn 
amser  rhwysg  Oliver  "  : 

Yn  angbof  gollyngwyd  yr  amser  y  ganwyd 
Oen  hyfryd,  wiw  Brophwyd  y  brif-ffordd. 
Fe  a'r  Meistr  bonheddig,  nior  fwyn  yn  ei  fenyg, 
I  weithio'r  Nadolig,  drwy  chwitbig  drwch  wedd  ; 
Ar  ol  hynny  flwyddyn  ni  wna  efe  un  gronyn, 
Ond  eiste'n  wr  gerwin,  a  gorwedd. 

He  never  tired  of  writing  these  compositions.  Of  one  written 
in  his  eightieth  year,  he  remarks  : 

Os  gofyn  dyn    duwiol 

Pwy  luniodd  y  carol 

O  fawl  i  Dduw  nefol, 

Orseddol  ei  swydd  ; 

Hen  ddyn  a  phen  maban, 

A'i  awen  yn  fechan, 

A'i  gorph  yn  oer  egwan  ar  ogwydd. 

One  of  his  best  ironical  elegies  is  that  entitled  Marwnad 
Givyr  Oliver,  and  one  of  his  most  pathetic  the  Elegy  on  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Myddleton  of  Plas  Newydd,  which  takes  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  the  dead  lady  and  her  husband,  who 
survived  her.  A  composition  marked  by  lofty  sentiment  and 
almost  unequalled  felicity  of  expression  is  his  Cyffes  ar  ei  glafweZy. 
He  always  handled  religious  subjects  with  reverence  and  dignity, 
and  as  one  writer  aptly  stated,  "  He  never  touched  the  ark  with 
unhallowed  hands."1  In  this  he  did  for  Wales  what  Milton  did 
for  England.  When  he  wished  to  caricature  the  times,  he  selected 
his  dramatis  persona,  like  /Esop,  from  the  animal  world.  Thus, 
in  one  of  his  visions,  the  characters  were  :  Llew  (Lion),  Charles 
I. ;  Llewod  ieuainc  (young  Lions),  The  Young  Princes  ;  Llwyn- 
ogod  Lloegr  goch  (The  Foxes  of  red  England),  The  Parliament ; 
Y  Llwynog  (The  Fox),  Cromwell ;  Moch  Prydyn  (The  Hogs  of 
Scotland),  The  Scottish  Army  ;  Defaid  (Sheep),  The  peaceable 
Subjects ;  Bugeiliaid  (Shepherds),  The  exiled  Clergy ;  Cwn 
tramor,  Foreign  Harriers. 

His  poem  Ymrafael y  Creaduriaid  (The  Battle  of  the  Brutes) 
1  Introduction  to  Eos  Ceiriog,  p.  xvi. 
224 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

has  the  following  characters  :  The  Barcud  (Kite)  and  Cigfran 
(Raven),  represent  the  rival  parties  for  the  Government  of  the 
Commonwealth  ;  Oen  (Lamb),  represents  the  revenues  of  Church 
and  State ;  Mwyalchen  (Blackbird),  the  moderate  party ;  and  Y 
Llwynog  (the  Fox),  Oliver  Cromwell.  This  poem  delineates  what 
the  bard  'conceived  to  be  Cromwell's  duplicity  and  cunning  in 
arriving  at  the  Protectorate  : 

Pan  geisiai'r  Barcud  damaid 

A'i  'winedd  nid  oedd  weiniaid, 

Fe  ymaflai'r  Gigfran  yn  ei  geg, 

Nid  da  nid  teg  mo'u  tynged. 

Tra'r  oedd  yr  ymdrech  rhyngthyn' — 

Mi  a  welwn  Lwynog  melyn, 

O  glun  i  glun  heb  ronyn  l^raw, 

Yn  rhodio  draw'n  y  ihedyn. 

Ynghysgod  perth  fe  lechai, 

A'i  lygaid  fcl  camvyllau, 

Yn  hyf  gwn  fod  y  cenaw  cam 

Yn  chwerthin  am  eu  pennau. 

Ar  ben  ychydig  amser, 

Gwedi  iddo  gael  ei  bleser, 

Ni  adawai'r  ddau  aderyn  dig, 

Fe  restiai  gig  y  brasder. 

Ond  pwy  yn  drist  ae  drostyn' — 

Pe  byddent  meirw  o  newyn  ? 

A'i  fol  yn  llawn,  mewn  lloches  glyd 

Mae'n  llawen  fyd  ar  Fadyn. 

After  the  Restoration  he  no  longer  hesitated  to  deal  with  the 
characters  of  the  Great  Rebellion  under  their  own  names. 
Cromwell,  General  Lambert,  Vavasor  Powell,  and  the  rest,  are 
each  dealt  with  in  no  uncertain  terms. 

Much  of  his  verse  was  designed  to  be  sung  to  the  accompani 
ment  of  the  harp,  and  he  generally  inserts  the  name  of  the  tune 
above  the  song.  Amongst  the  tunes  thus  employed  may  be 
instanced :  Difyrrwch  Givyr  Dyfi,  Y  Ddeilen  Werdd,  Y  Galon 
Drom,  Brynie'r  Werddon,  Llafar  Haf,  Gwledd  Angharad,  and 
Per  Oslef. 

Although  he  remained  a  celibate  to  the  end  of  his  life,  his 
love-poems  are  numerous,  and  are  addressed  to  many  different 
maidens,  whom,  on  occasion,  he  does  not  fear  to  censure  as  well 

225 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

as  to  sing  their  praises.  The  lyric  metres  he  employed  were 
afterwards  very  popular,  and  he  had  many  imitators,  but  very 
few  who  used  them  to  the  same  advantage.  Gwallter  Mechain 
writes  of  him  :  "As  a  lyric  poet,  so  astonishingly  hath  he  been 
thought  to  excel,  that  a  late  author1  compares  him  to  a  surprising 
comet  appearing  after  the  revolution  of  three  hundred  years,  the 

last  having  been  Dafydd  ab  Gwilym Both  abounded  in 

pure  nature,  and  were  not  seemingly  under  any  obligation  to  art."2 
The  following  are,   perhaps,  typical  stanzas,  from  his  love- 
songs  : 

Nid  ydyw  da'r  byd 

A'i  hyder  o  hyd, 

I  wyr  ac  i  wragedd,  ond  gwagedd  i  gyd  ; 

Mawr  serch  a  hir  sai', 

Da  drysor  di  drai, 

Yn  hwy  o  flynyddoedd  na  thiroedd  na  thai. 

Cei  draserch  heh  droi, 

A  chalon  i'w  chloi, 

Os  wyt  ti  f  anwylyd,  yn  dywedyd  y  doi  ; 

Os  tyni  di  yn  groes, 

Mae'n  berygl  am  f  oes, 

O  gariad,  dwys  d'rawiad,  ymadawiad  nid  oes. 

Fy  ngwenithen  lawen  liwus, 

O  ran  dy  ddaed  'r  wy'n  dy  ddewis, 

Nid  am  ddiwrncd  hynod  heiny' — 

Y  dymunwn  gael  dy  gwmni, 

Nid  am  fis,  neu  ddau,  neu  flwyddyn, 

Trwy  gymmendod,  ar  wan  dafod,  yr  wy'n  d'  ofyn  ; 

Tra  fo  Feinioes  heb  derfynu, 

Mynwn  beunydd,  difai  ddeunydd,  dy  feddiannu. 

His  elegy  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Myddleton,  of  Plas  Newydd, 
shows  that  he  could  excel  as  a  writer  of  manvnadau.  David 
Samwell  has  compared  this  with  Lord  Lyttleton's  "  Monody  on 
the  death  of  his  Lady  "  and  "  To  the  Memory  of  a  young  Lady," 
by  Mr.  Shaw,  and  his  comment  is,  "  Whoever  will  compare  them 
with  this  elegy,  must  allow,  that  they  are  equalled,  if  not  excelled, 
by  the  Cambrian  bard."3  The  closing  lines  show  the  tenderness 
and  singular  beauty  of  this  elegy,  which  is  written  in  the  form  of  a 

1  Mr.  Lewis  Morris  in  a  letter  to  William  Parry.  See  Gwallter  Mechain's 
Preface,  p.  xviii.  *  Gwaith  Gwaltter  Mechain^  iii.  p.  303.  3  Cambriqn 
Register,  i.,  1795,  p.  434. 

226 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

dialogue  between  the  living  and  the  dead,  a  form  in  which  Huw 
Morus  has  imitated  William  Llyn  and  other  bards ; 

Ffarwel  garedig,  wraig  fonheddig, 

Bendigedig  oedd  dy  gael ; 

Er  colli  tegwch,  a  hawddgarwch, 

Doniau  harddwch,  mae  Duw'n  hael. 

Ion,  gvvna'n  foddlon,  fy  meddylion, 

I'th  amcanion  doethion  di  ; 

Nid  y\v  ryfedd,  faint  f'anhunedd, 

Dod  amynedd,  Dad,  i  mi ; 

A  dod  drugaredd,  rhanwr  rhinwedd, 

Yn  y  diwedd,  i  ni  ein  dau  ; 

A  maddeu  i'm  calon,  am  fy  Ngwen-fron, 

Oedd  wych  a  ffyddlon,  ei  choftau. 

He  throws  much  light  on  the  social  changes  wrought  during 
the  Civil  War  and  under  the  Commonwealth.  For  instance,  he 
expresses  his  repugnance  to  a  law  which  came  into  force  restrict- 
ing the  performance  of  the  marriage  rite  to  the  secular  magistrate  : 

Rhyw  gyfraith  newydd  gwmbrus 

Anhwylus  ydyw  hon  ! 


Y  merched  rhowch  eich  gweddi, 
Yn  ffyddlon  gyda  myfi, 
Am  gael  y  gyfraith  ddifri 
Ffei  o  honi  leni  i  lawr. 

He  pours  scorn  on  the  illiterate  ministry  so  often  set  up  by 
the  Roundheads  : 

Rhyw  ddyn  o'u  mysg,  heb  ddysg,  heb  ddawn, 
A  wnae  ryw  bregeth  felus  iawn. 


Ni  fedrai  ein  Personiaid  ni, 
Fyth  goethi  y  fath  bregethau. 

He  is  also  very  satirical  about  the  tinkers  who  became  mayors, 
and  the  blacksmiths,  weavers,  and  others,  who  conducted  public 
worship  on  Sunday  and  sat  on  the  magisterial  bench  on  other 
days: 

Rhai  a  ddywed  yn  dduwiol  mai'r  Gofsydd  ysbrydol, 
Ac  eraill  modd  gwrol  a  ganmol  y  Gwydd ; 
A  rhai  sy'n  deisyfu  y  Crydd'fw  ceryddu, 
A'r  lleill  yn  moliannu'r  Melinydd. 

The  topsy-turvydom  of  social  life  he  satirised  in  Marwnad 
Gwyr  Oliver  in  trenchant  lines,  of  which  the  following  are  a  fair 
example ; 

227 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Potiwr  pridd  oedd  Gadpen  glan, 
Mewn  sidan  yn  drwsiadus, 
A'r  Cariwr  n6d  ar  gefn  ei  farch, 
Fel  iarll  dihafarch  hoenus  ; 
Yn  wr  gwych  yn  ei  Keidin  goch, 
Mewn  llawer  gwledd  ennillai'r  gloch, 
Yn  byw  ar  win  a  mehin  moch, 
Chwi  a'i  gwyddoch  enwog  oeddyn'; 
Doe  yn  fawr  eu  grym  a'u  nerth, 
Yn  dringo  i  dop  y  simddai  serth, 
A  heddyw'n  llechu  tan  y  berth, 
Ow  !  mor  ddi-ymadferth  ydyn'. 

A'r  cleddyf  llym,  mewn  grym  a  gras, 
Curo'i  feistr  a  allai'r  gwas, 
A  chymryd  meddiant  yn  ei  bias, 
Yn  ddigon  bras  ei  breseb. 


Mi  a  ddylwn  yn  fy  Marwnad  mwyn, 
Yn  uchel  ddwyn  eu  hachau  ; 
Yr  oedd  eu  graddau'nfawr  trwy  gred, 
O'r  hen  Fegeriaid  goreu  ! 

He  describes  the  joy  of  the  populace  at  the  Restoration  in 
his  poem  Croesaw  i'r  Arglwydd  Mwnc  i  Lundain  : 

Mae  yn  Llundain  seinio  clychau, 

Y  drymau  a'r  gynau  ar  gan, 

Mae  miwsig  pawb  a'u  moesau 

O  groesaw  i'r  gleiniau  glan  ; 

Cusanu  dwylaw  a  dilyn  ein  brenin  braf  o  bryd, 

Y  rhod  a  drodd 

Drwy  rasol  fodd— i  ryngu  bodd  y  byd  ! 

His  disgust  at  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  is  described  in  the 
strongest  terms  in  Cerdd y  Plot  fuyn  Llundain. 

Nid  rhydd  i'r  traed  farnu  y  pen,  a'i  ddirmygu, 
Tan  daeru  iddo  gamu,  heb  lynu  yn  ei  le  ; 
Yr  an  niodd  i'r  gwerin,  roi  barn  ar  y  brenin, 
A'r  Arglwydd  yn  wreiddyn  i'w  raddau. 

In  the  same  poem  he  makes  a  firm  stand  for  establishedauthority  : 

Cywirdia  ac  ufudd-dod  i  Dduw  a'r  awdurdod, 
Yw  ffynnon  a  phennod  y  ftynniant. 

But  this    poem   has  an  unjust  reflection   on  Algernon  Sydney, 
whom  the  bard  accuses  of  a  design  to  kill  Charles  II.   and  his 
brother  James.     His  biographer,  D.  Samwell,  pleads  as  his  excuse 
that  he  was  deceived  in  his  information  respecting  Sydney, 
228 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

In  others  of  his  political  odes  he  describes  and  commemor- 
ates the  great  naval  victory  obtained  by  the  English  and  Dutch 
under  Admiral  Russell  against  the  French,  off  La  Hogue,  in  1692. 
In  another  poem  he  describes  the  war  in  Flanders. 

So  far,  the  poems  that  have  been  noticed  were  written  in  the 
free  metres,  but  he  also  wrote  a  number  of  cywyddau  and  cngfynion 
which  showed  his  mastery  of  the  cyngkanedd.  The  following 
lines  taken  from  his  Elegy  to  Sir  Thomas  Mostyn  and  Lady 
Mostyn,  who  were  buried  in  the  same  grave  at  Eglwys  y  Rhos, 
in  Creuddyn,  serve  as  a  good  instance  of  his  skill  in  this 
direction : 

Oer  i  eryr  hir  aros, 

O'i  lys  rhydd  yn  Eglwys  Rhos 


Angeu  a'i  rhoes,  ing  yr  hawg, 
A'i  arf  erchyll  ar  farchawg  ; 
A'i  Arglwyddes  wawr  Gloddaith, 
I  ran  Duw  aent  i'r  un  daith  ; 
Ni  ddymunodd  i'w  maenol. 
Acres  wycb,  aros  o'i  ol  ; 
Gado  i  fonedd  gydfyned, 
A  wnaeth  Crist  am  wenith  cred, 
Un  foddion  yn  fyvv  oeddynt, 
Un  gred  goel,  un  gariad  gynt  ; 
Un  galon  union,  un  air, 
Un  ddaioni  'n  ddi  -  anair. 

He  also  wrote  a  very  large  number  of  englyuiun,  of  which 
the  following  Ynglyn  o  Gyagor  is  a  fair  sample  : 

Na  fydd  anfwyn  v.  nhfivyn  o'th  fodd— na  wivyn 

Wrth  anfwyn  o'th  an  fodd  ; 
Anfwyn  nid  ci;i  mewn  unh  ;'ul, 
Na  i\\y  fzvyn,  end  mewn  rhyw  fodd. 

In  his  last  illness,  in  reply  to  a  friend  who  made  inquiries  as 
to  his  condition,  he  wrote  : 

Myn'd  i'r  ail  adail  ar  redeg — yr  wyf, 

Lie  ceir  oes  ychvvaneg, 
I  baradwys  bur  wiwdeg, 
Yn  enw  Duw  yn  union  deg. 

Huw  Morus  died  at  Pont-y-meibion,  on  the  313!  of  August, 

229 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

1709,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven,  and  was  buried  at 
Llansilin.     The  following  epitaph  is  engraved  on  his  tombstone  : 

Dyma  Huw  a  fu  byw  yn  y  byd,  yn  bencerdd 

Am  bynciau  celfyddyd  ; 
Gwir  organ  y  gan  i  gyd  ; 
Diamntau  yw,  dyma  Ovyd. 
Er  Grnegiaid,  blaeniaid,  aer  blys,  iawn  naddiad 

Awenyddiaeth  fedrys 
Lladingwyr  ledwyr  dilys, 
Hwya  mawredd  Huw  Morys. 

Y  parch.  Mr.  Robert  Wynne,  Vicar  Gwyddelwern. 

He  has  been  ranked  with  Dafydd  ab  Gwilym  as  to  the 
quality  of  his  muse,  and  in  his  power  of  imagination  and 
versatility.  Mr.  R.  J.  Prys,  writing  of  these  two  great  bards, 
states  with  much  truth :  "  Ychydig  iawn  o  feirdd  Cymru  sy'n 
deilwng  i  gael  eu  rhestri  yn  yr  un  dosbarth  aruchel  a  hwynt  hwy, 
o  ran  crebwyll,  darfelydd,  ac  amledd  eu  cyfansoddiadau  awen- 
yddol.  Y  gwir  yw,  mai  rhai  wedi  eu  gent  yn  feirdd  a  llenorion 
oedd  y  ddau,  ac  nid  rhai  wedieu  saernio  gan  ddysg  a  chelfyddyd." 
Poetry  seemed  to  flow  easily  and  naturally  from  Huw  Morus ;  it 
was  not  the  result  of  effort,  but  of  inspiration.  He  was  certainly 
in  the  first  rank  of  Welsh  poets,  and  was  pre-eminently  the  bard 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Mr.  Lewis  Morris  held  the  opinion 
that  his  cywyddau  and  englynion  suffered  by  comparison  with  his 
poems  in  the  free  metres,1  but  we  cannot  agree  with  him  in  his 
verdict  as  to  the  former — "  yr  oedd  allan  o'i  elfen  anianol,"  for 
his  cywyddau,  in  particular,  will  compare  with  most  things  that 
were  written  by  bards  of  merit. 

Gwallter  Mechain  collected  his  poems  from  various  sources. 
He  states  in  his  preface  to  Eos  Ceiriog:  "  Rhai  Carolau  a  Cherddi 
a  gyhoeddwyd  ym  mhlith  Caniadau  eraill  gan  un  Ffoulk  Owen  yn 
jRhydychen,  yn  y  fl.  1686.  Ac  eraill  gan  un  Tomas  Jones  yn  y 
'Mwythig,  yn  y  fl.  1 696.  A  Dewi  Fardd  (fel  y  galwai  ei  hun)  o 
Drefriw,  a  chwanegodd  at  y  rhifedi  yn  ei  lyfr  a  elwir  "  Blodeu- 
Gerdd  Cymru."  The  others  he  collected,  as  he  says,  from 
manuscripts  as  old  as  the  author,  perhaps  of  his  own  writing,  and 
others  from  later  MSS.  His  own  two  volumes  of  the  great  bard's 

1  Eos  Ceiriog,  Introduction,  p.  xix, 
230 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

work  he  published  under  the  title  :  "  Eos  Ceiriog,  sef  Casgliad  o 
Ber  Ganiadau  Huw  Morus ;  yn  ddau  Lyfr :  O  gynhulliad  a 
Diwygiad  W.  D.  [Walter  Davies]. 

Mawl  a  geiff  am  oleu  gerdd 
A  gwiw  sein-gan  gyson-gerdd. 

Goromvy  Orvain. 

Yn  Ngwrecsam  argraffwyd  ac  a  gyhoeddwyd  gan  I.  Painter.   1823." 
He  has  arranged  the  poems  in  nine  sections,   as   follows: 
Cywyddion,  Mabinogion,  Hanesion,  Priodolion,   Difrifolion,  Maes- 
olion,  Galar-Gwynion,  Divyfolion,  and  Ynglynion. 

Many  tributes  were  paid  to  Huw  Morus  by  contemporary 
bards  and  those  of  a  later  age  in  the  form  of  cywyddau  manvnad 
and  englynion.  That  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Wynn  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  striking.  It  begins  as  follows  : 

Mae  niwl  draw,  mne  gwlaw'n  y  Glyn, 
A  barug  oddeutu  Berwyn  ; 
Tywyllwch,  aethwch  weithian 
Gorchudd  yn  awr  mawr  a  man  ; 
A  rhif  o  ddagrau  yr  hawg, 
Yn  cyrhaedd  glanau  Ceiriawg  ; 
Mae  hyd  y  wlad,  yn  fad  fu, 
Ochenaid  mwy  na  chanu  ; 
Ar  ol  Huw,  araul  ei  wedd, 
Oedd  gynnil  brif  fardd  Gwynedd.* 

Dafydd  ab  loan,    Llangollen,    wrote   in    1820,    "  Myfyrdod 
uwch  ben  Bedd  Huw  Morus,"  which  contains  some  striking  stanzas. 
Llyma  giyd  dybryd  dibris — oer  wely 
Er  alaeth  dros  ganmis  ; 

Graian  yw — pa  fangre'n  is, 

I  roi'r  mawr  -  wr  Huw  Morris  '! 

'R  wyf  bron  wylaw  hagr  ddagrau— o  weled 

Mor  wael  ei  Gaer  yntau  ; 
Cofiaw  hefyd  ryw  bryd  brau 
Mae  bedd  tydd  f  annedd  innau.2 

Another  bard,  Robert  Davies,  of  Nantglyn,  wrote  of  the 
bard's  grave,  which  is  on  the  south  side  of  Llansilin  Churchyard, 
close  to  the  wall  of  the  sacred  edifice  : 

C6r  Silin,  lie  cerais  sylwi — genyf 

Mae'n  gynhes  dy  feini, 
Am  fod  hyd  ddydd  cyfodi, 
Huw  Morys  wrth  d'ystlys  di.s 
Ceiriogt  Preface,  p.  xx.     2ibid,  p.  xxii,     3ibid,  p,  XJtiii, 

231 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Mr.  David  Sam  well,  to  whom  reference  has  been  made  as 
his  biographer,  wrote  the  following  lines  to  Huw  Moras'  memory, 
which  very  aptly  summarise  the  aim  and  purpose  of  his  poems  : 

To  cherish  virtue,  to  exalt  the  scul, 
To  sway  the  passions  with  a  mild  controul, 
Mankind  from  vice  by  pow'rful  verse  to  draw, 
And  teach  of  justice  the  eternal  law. 
Of  nature's  works,  to  point  the  secret  plan, 
And  shew  the  social  ties  that  govern  man  : 
How  happiness,  on  virtue's  ways  attends, 
And  vicious  passion,  in  destruction  ends. 
How  soon  terrestrial  bodies  pass  away, 
Whilst  the  soul  triumphs  in  immortal  day  : 
Were  themes  he  chose — and  with  a  skill  divine 
Gave  truth  new  lustre  in  his  nervous  line.1 

Edmund  Prys  (1541-1623-4),  although  he  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  long  life  in  the  sixteenth  century,  composed 
much  of  his  best  work  in  the  seventeenth.  His  metrical  version 
of  the  psalms,  which  has  been  already  noticed,  appeared  in  1621, 
and  his  other  poetic  work  must  now  claim  our  attention.  It  is 
difficult  to  determine  who  was  his  bardic  mentor.  Some  have 
asserted  that  William  Llyn  had  that  honour,  but  this  is  mere 
conjecture.  Others  affirm  that  Sion  Tudur  taught  him  the 
mysteries  of  the  cynghanedd,  and  rest  their  assertion  on  a  Cywydd 
written  by  Edmund  Prys  to  that  bard,  in  which  he  states  : 
Athraw  ydwyt,  a  thradoeth 
A  cholofn  y  gerdd  ddofn  ddoeth 


Disgybl  wyf  o  dasg  gwbl  (waith) 
Yspashir,  yspus  araith.2 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  purpose  of  this  cywydd  was  to  ask 
Sion  Tudur  for  two  books  of  grammar,  "  dau  lyfr  i  dwned,"  and 
this  would  be  a  likely  request  from  pupil  to  master.  Sion  Tudur 
was  a  Canon  of  St.  Asaph,  and  on  his  death,  in  1602,  Edmund 
Prys  was  appointed.  None  of  these  things  are  conclusive  proof, 
but  they  do  show  there  were  certain  links  between  the  two  men. 
Perhaps  a  man  of  the  Archdeacon's  attainments  hardly  required  a 
bardic  mentor.  He  lived  in  the  atmosphere  of  bards  at  Maen- 
twrog.  On  one  side  of  him  were  the  Llwyds  of  Cynfal,  Hugh  and 

1  Cumbrian  Register  %  i.,  1795,  p.  439.     ^  En-wo»ion y  Ffyddt  i.,  p.  67, 
332 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

David,  both  devoted  to  the  muse,  and  excelling  in  the  exercise  of 
poetry,  and  on  the  other  side  the  Ph)  lips  of  Ardudwy,  Sion  and 
William,  both  of  them  excellent  bards,  and  living  less  than  half  a 
day's  journey  from  Edmund  Prys. 

William  Cynwal,  in  his  controversy  with  the  latter,  insinuated 
that  he  was  not  a  graduated  bard,  but  there  were  scores  of  good 
bards  who  were  not  so.  Amongst  those  who  took  bardic  degrees 
at  Caerwys  in  1568  the  names  of  no  clergy  appear.  It  was  only 
the  professional  bards  who  required  a  licence.  The  clergy,  for  the 
most  part,  had  graduated  at  the  Universities,  and  it  was  unlikely 
they  would  submit  to  tests  such  as  those  imposed  at  Caerwys. 

Hugh  Llwyd,  of  Cynfal,  and  the  Archdeacon  were  close 
friends.  The  former  had  spent  many  years  in  the  army  in 
different  countries  on  the  Continent,  but  came  home  to  his 
patrimony  to  end  his  days.  On  his  death  in  1620,  Edmund  Prys 
composed  the  following  well-known  englyn : 

"  I  loll  gampau  doniau  a  dynwyd — o'n  tir, 

Maentwrpg  yspeiliwyd  ; 
Ni  chleddir,  ac  ni  chladdwyd, 
Fyth  i'w  llawr  o  fiith  Hugh  Llwyd."  ' 

Sion  Phylip,  o  Fochras,  died  in  the  same  year  as  Hugh 
Llwyd.  He  had  a  bardic  contention  with  Edmund  Prys,  as  will 
be  presently  noticed. 

One  of  the  first  poetic  exercises  of  the  Archdeacon's  was  an 
ode  entitled  "  Awdl  ein  Prynedigaeth,"  otherwise  known  as 
"  Awdl  i  Fair."  It  savours  rather  of  Mariolatry,  and  his  two 
antagonists,  Sion  Phylip  and  William  Cynwal,  fastened  on  it  as  an 
example  of  Prys'  unorthodoxy.  It  was  a  feeble  production, 
evidently  a  first  effort  to  write  in  cynghanedd.  He  had  made 
considerable  strides  when  he  wrote  next,  "  Awdl  i  ddyn  o'i 
ddechreu  i'w  ddiwedd," 2  which  describes  different  periods  in  the 
life  of  man,  and  begins  as  follows  ; 

"  Y  maban  yn  wan  unwaith— y  genir 

Ac  yna  i  dwf  perffaith  ; 
Ban  el  yn  faban  eilwaith 
Euan  daw  i  ben  ei  dailh." 

» Glan  Menai's  Edmund  Fiys,  p.  53.     "  Gwyliedydd  (fcii.,  p.  24), 

233 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Two  of  his  best  compositions  are  "  Cywydd  i'r  Byd "  and 
"  Cywydd  y  Nef."1  In  the  latter  he  describes  the  glory  and 
worship  of  heaven  : 

Lie  bydd  llawenydd  i'r  llu, 

Llyfr  gwyn  a  llafar  ganu, 

Lie  caiff  Ion  byth  glodforedd, 

Lie  cyflawn  hylawn  o  hedd  ; 

Lie  mae'r  Oen  a  fu  'n  poeni, 

Yr  lesu  'm  ner  drosom  ni ; 

Lie  cair  heb  ballu  cariad, 

Gwledd  yr  Oen,  fy  Arglwydd  o'i  rad  ; 

Llyna'r  man  y  llenwir  mawl 

I'r  Gwir  Dduw  yn  dragwyddawl. 

In  his  "  Cywydd  Helynt  i'r  Byd,"  Edmund  Prys  shows  that 
he  has  mastered  all  the  intricacies  of  the  bardic  craft.  In  the 
Tanybwlch  MS.  this  is  called  "  Cywydd  yn  erbyn  Anllywodraeth 
y  Cedyrn."  Its  opening  lines  are  : 

Gwelais  eira  glwys  oerwyn, 

Ir,  heb  un  brisg,  ar  ben  bryn. 

Gwelais  haul  teg  gloyw  sail  twyn, 

Yn  ei  doddi,  nod  addfwyn. 

Yr  un  modd  wedi  toddai, 

O'r  fron  i'r  afon  yr  ai ; 

A;r  afon  yn  union  nod 

I  'miyson  a'r  m6r  isod. 

He  goes  on  to  draw  an  analogy  between  Nature  and  the  life  of  man: 
Y  bryn  yw  gwedd  bonedd  byd  ; 
Bryn  bonedd  bwriai  'n  benyd. 
Swyddogion  yw'r  afonydd 
Rhy  esgud  yn  symud  sydd  ; 
Ar  i  wared  y  rhedant, 
Llwybr  pawb  yw  y  lie  bo'r  pant. 

In  this  poem  he  employs  most  useful  and  happy  analogies, 
many  of  them  very  original  and  striking,  and  with  them  he  inter- 
leaves some  of  the  old  Welsh  proverbs,  for  instance  : 

Rhaid  i'r  gwan  ddal  y.gannwyll 

I'r  dewr  i  wneuthur  ei  dwyll. 


Gwyllt  yw  byd,  gwell  ydyw  bodd 
Yr  ynfyd  na'i  wir  anfodd. 

Nid  annodd  y  diffoddan 
A  dwr  wreichionen  o  dan. 


Gwyliedydd,  x.,  p.  281. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

Cywydd  i V  Eryr,  composed  in  1600,  is  another  composition 
found  in  the  Tanybwlch  MS.,  and  is,  perhaps,  his  first  poem  in 
the  period  under  notice.  Cywydd  y  Credo  is  a  poetical  summary 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed.  "  Cywydd  Mwythus  i  Ferch  i  erchi  iddi 
naill  ai  dyfod  ai  peidio  "  is  one  of  his  few  amatory  compositions, 
and  contains  some  very  fine  lines.  Its  reference  seems  to  be  to  a 
lover's  quarrel,  and  the  bard  seeks  reconciliation,  but  at  the  same 
time  stands  a  little  on  his  dignity  : 

Nis  down  i,  er  estyn  n6d, 
Ddau  gam  oni  ddoe  gymod. 

Lliw'r  od,  os  myn  gymodi 
Wiw  oleuferch,  wele  fi. 


Os  parod  i  gymodi, 

Pryd  a  fynn,  parod  wyf  fi. 

Diofal  nid  \vy'  afiach, 

Deled,  neu  beidied,  fun  bach  ! 

Perhaps  no  Welsh  bard  has  sung  more  beautifully  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  tie  than  Edmund  Prys  in  the  following 
lines  taken  from  Cywydd  Priodas  a'i  Braint : 

Un  gyfoeth,  medd  iawn  gofiwr, 

Ag  un  gorph  yw  Gwen  a'i  gwr  ; 

A  chyfran  o  bob  anedd, 

O  waith  a  maeth,  hi  ai  medd. 

Cyd  gariad,  cenad,  cywir ; 

Cyd  ymgeledd  mewn  hedd  hir  ;  , 

Cyd  waith,  cyd  afiaethufudd, 

Clyfaredd  rhag  caredd  cudd, 

Cyd  hilio  plant,  cyd  haeledd, 

A  chyd  o  febyd  i  fedd. 

Most  of  his  poems  take  the  cyivydd  form,  but  he  also  essayed 
the  englyn,  which  had  not  come  into  such  frequent  use  in  his 
time.  Here  is  an  example,  in  which  he  declaimed  against  the 
use  of  tobacco,  although  it  is  stated  that  he  afterwards  fell  a 
victim  to  the  weed  : 

Tra  b'ych  byw,  a  gwych  heb  gur — na  gwaew 

Na  gwewyr  na  Uafur, 
Nac  arfer  i  sychder  sur 
Mwg  dail  rhag  magu  dolur.1 

Like  other  learned  bards  of  his  age  he  wrote  Latin  lines  with 
1  G-wylicdydd,  xii.,  316. 

235 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

considerable  facility.     The  following  englyn  to  "  The  Miser  "  is  a 
good  example  of  his  attainments  in  this  direction  : 

Parcus  avarts  vorat — ut  amnis, 

Et  omnia  desiderat, 
Cupit  ut  omnia  cppiat, 
Nil  vero  pro  Deo  dat. 

Apart  from  his  metrical  version  of  the'psalms,  he  wrote  a  few 
other  poems  in  the  free  metres,  and  the  following  stanza  from  his 
Cydsain  Cerddorion  yn  Glyn  Haelicon,  written  in  1600,  will  serve 
as  an  instance  of  his  superior  skill  in  this  form  of  poetry  : 

Lief  a  roeion  llafur  weision, 

Ddoe  a  glywsom,  dan  wydd  gleision, 

Glwysaidd  ac  Eglwysaidd  ; 

Teiroes  i'r  pencerddi  tirion, 

Llinos  o'r  llwyn  Eos  irion, 

Dwysaidd,  Baradwysaidd  : 

Bronfraith  bur  araeth  her  walch 

A'r  Fwyalch  fwya'i  hawydd  : 

Ysgido  gyll  drythyll  dro, 

Yn  chwyddo  llais  yr  Ehedydd. 

Yn  canu,  yn  tanu, 

Cymaint  o  Awenydd, 

Cyn  hoywed,  cyn  groywed, 

Ac  un  gy-vir  newydd.1 

Apart  from  his  Salman  Mydryddol,  none  of  his  work  seems 
to  have  been  published  until  1686,  under  which  year  Moses 
Williams  records  in  his  Cofrestr  "  Caniadau  Edmwnd  Prys,"  but 
it  is  evident  that  they  are  the  same  poems,  which  appeared  in  the 
same  year  in  a  collection  made  by  Foulke  Owens  of  Nantglyn,  of 
carols  and  lyrics  by  various  authors,  including  Rowland  Vaughan, 
John  Wynne,  William  Phylip,  Morris  Richard,  Thomas  Lloyd  o 
Benmaen,  Edward  Morus,  Huw  Morus,  and  many  others.  A 
second  and  more  correct  edition  of  this  book  was  published  by 
Thomas  Jones,  Shrewsbury,  in  1696.  The  title  of  this  work  is  as 
follows  :  "  Cerddlyfr,  yr  hwn  sydd  yn  cynnwys  amry\v  Garolau,  a 
dyrifau  o  waith  amryw  awdwyr,  Ac  a  gasglwyd  ynghyd  gan  Foulke 
Owens,  o  Nantglyn,  yn  Sir  Ddinbych." 

A  very  favourite  exercise  amongst  the  bards  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifteenth  century  onwards  was  the   Cywydd   Ymryson, 
1  Glan  Menai's  Edmivnd  Piys,  pp.  67-8.     See  also   Y  Blodeugerddt  p. 
340. 
236 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

in  which  they  tilted  at  each  other,  and  not  always  in  the  best 
spirit.  A  noted  instance  is  the  contest  of  Dafydd  ab  Gwilym 
with  Gruffydd  Grug,  and  also  with  Rhys  Meigan.  Edmund  Prys 
indulged  in  two  poetic  frays  of  this  nature,  one  with  Sion  Phylip, 
and  the  other,  which  was  longer  and  more  bitter,  with  William 
Cyrnval.  The  only  thing  that  can  be  said  in  favour  of  this  paper 
warfare  is  that  it  occasionally  produced  a  good  cywydd.  Edmund 
Prys'  contention  with  Sion  Phylip  started  concerning  a  dagger 
owned  by  the  Archdeacon  and  highly  valued  by  him,  because  of 
its  workmanship  and  that  it  had  been  made  in  Edinburgh.  Sion 
Phylip,  knowing  this,  wrote  a  cywydd  to  one  Rhys  Wyn  of  Traws- 
fynydd,  perhaps  a  friend  of  Prys,  to  ask  for  it.  It  was  the  custom 
of  gentlemen  at  the  time  to  bestow  a  gift  which  a  bard  asked  for 
in  verse.  The  Archdeacon  sent  the  dagger  to  Sion  Phylip,  at 
the  same  time  drawing  his  attention  to  many  errors  in  the  cywydd 
in  which  he  had  asked  for  it.  This  was  just  what  the  Ardudwy 
bard  wanted,  and  gave  the  opportunity  for  starting  the  contest, 
which  he  must  have  regretted  before  the  finish,  for  he  was  no 
match  for  Edmund  Prys,  who  kept  his  temper  and  answered  his 
scurrilous  abuse  with  provoking  good  nature.  In  the  meantime 
Edmund  Prys  discovered  that  there  was  someone  aiding  and 
abetting  Sion  Phylip,  and  he  turned  his  full  armoury  upon  him 
with  the  effect  that  he  withdrew  from  the  contest — vanquished. 
Sion  Phylip  found  fault  with  Prys  for  taking  up  bardism,  which 
shows  the  jealousy  of  the  professional  bards  towards  those  who, 
like  the  Archdeacon,  indulged  in  poetry  as  a  hobby  : 

Bai  mawr  i  neb  ymyryd 
Ar  ddau  beth  o  raddau  byd. 


Bid  fyw  ai  wybod  o  fil 
Arf  ing  wrth  yr  Efengil. 

Edmund  Prys  replied  with  fine  scorn  : 

Erchaist  fyw  orchest  o  fil 
Er  fy  angen  o'r  Efengil, 
Ni  cheisiaf  fi  na  chas  faeth 
Na  cblera  na  chwilwriaeth 
Nid  mwy'r  dreth  ar  bregethaU 
Er  gyru  tal  o'r  gair  tau. 


And  to  show  that  he  had  discovered  that  Sion  Phylip  was  backed 
by  someone  in  the  contest,  he  added  : 

Sen  a  roist  mewn  symvyr  wan 
Nid  o  honod  dy  hunan, 
Eithr  ydynt  ryw  athrodwyr 
I'th  annog,  ynt  waeth  na  gwyr. 

His  "  Cywydd  moliant  gwatwarus  i  Sion  Phylip,"  with  its  biting 
sarcasm,  ended  the  controversy.  That  ode  finishes  with  these 
lines  : 

Oni  chenaist  ni  chwynaf, 

Terfyn  dan  erfyn  a  wnaf ; 

A  deeded  bardd  Ardudwy, 

A'i  fin  mel,  a  fyno  mwy. 

The  victim's  reply  is  contained  in  Cywydd  i  ofyn  Cymod 
Edmwnd  Prys,  a  very  obsequious  ode,  in  which  he  compares  the 
latter  to  Plato  and  Augustine,  praises  his  scholarly  attainments, 
refers  to  his  noble  origin,  his  physical  strength,  his  knowledge  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages,  and  especially  of  his  own,  and 
his  distinction  as  a  bard.  On  the  latter  point  he  writes  : 

Mae  awenydd  mwy  ynod 
Nag  a  wyr  fyth  gwyr  i  fod. 


Tydain  gall  tad  awen  gynt, 
Tydain  wyt  o  ddawn  atynt. 

He  ends  with  a  humble  apology  for  having  invited  the  contest, 
expresses  his  contrition,  and  pleads  forgiveness  : 

Nid  addas  gwylwas  golew 

I'r  oen  llaeth  gyffroi'r  hen  Hew. 

Edmund  Prys  had  a  minor  contest  with  Thomas  Prys,  of  Plas 
lolyn,  who  wrote  "  Cywydd  Duchan  i  Edmwnd  Prys,"  but  it  was 
only  an  auxiliary  effort  to  strengthen  William  Cynwal,  whom  he 
felt  was  being  severely  handled  in  the  contest,  which  shall  now 
be  related. 

In  its  duration,  and  the  number  of  compositions  written  by 
each,  this  struggle  stands  out  supreme  in  the  history  of  bardic 
contentions,  and  its  bitterness  was  such  that  popular  opinion 
believed  that  William  Cynwal  had  died  of  shame,  although  there 
is  no  evidence  offered  in  support  of  this.  The  latter  bard  was  a 
blacksmith,  and  one  of  the  graduates  of  Caerwys.  Prys,  in  one 
848 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

of  his  cywyddau,  informs  us  that  he  lived  at  Yspytty  Ifan,  although 
his  name  is  mostly  associated  with  Penmachno.  Fifty -four 
cyit'yddau  were  composed  in  this  contention,  in  addition  to  Cyivydd 
Manvnad  William  Cy nival  composed  by  Prys  when  he  heard  of 
the  latter's  death.  Goronwy  Owen,  after  reading  the  controversy 
between  the  two  bards,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  Cynwal  was  the 
better  bard,  but  that  Prys  had  the  advantage  of  him  in  learning. 
He  compared  it  to  a  contest  of  bare  fists  against  shield  and  breast- 
plate. 

It  originated  in  a  promise  on  the  part  of  William  Cynwal  of 
a  light  steel  bow  to  an  old  gentleman  named  Rhys  Wyn,  who  was 
fond  of  the  diversion  of  shooting  at  a  target,  but  who  found  that 
ordinary  bows  overtaxed  his  strength,  and  the  latter  asked  the 
Archdeacon,  who  was  present  at  the  time,  if  he  would  write  a 
cywydd  to  ask  for  it.  Edmund  Prys  was  willing,  and  William 
Cynwal  said  he  agreed  to  this,  on  condition  that  he  was  to  name 
the  subject.  His  long  delay  in  sending  this  to  the  Archdeacon 
was  taken  to  mean  that  he  wanted  to  relinquish  his  promise.  At 
last  Edmund  Prys,  at  Rhys  Wyn's  desire,  wrote  the  cywydd 
without  waiting  for  the  subject  to  be  named.  Cynwal  replied 
that  he  had  sent  the  bow  to  Mr.  Thomas  Prys  of  Plas  lolyn. 
Two  years  passed,  and  the  promise  was  still  unfulfilled,  and  when 
the  Archdeacon  met  the  bard,  he  reminded  him  of  it,  for  he  had 
broken  the  almost  inviolate  rule  that  a  gift  should  be  bestowed 
on  him  who  asked  for  it  in  this  way,  and  Edmund  Prys  showed 
him  that  in  like  circumstances  he,  William  Cynwal,  would  expect 
to  receive  the  gift.  Cynwal  felt  the  reproof,  and  sent  a  cywydd, 
together  with  a  letter,  showing  his  acAau,  intimating  that  the 
Archdeacon  had  not  given  his,  a  usual  procedure  in  asking  a  boon. 
Edmund  Prys  replied  with  a  cywydd  and  a  letter,  and  twelve 
compositions  of  this  kind  passed  between  them.  Then  the 
Archdeacon  began  to  write  three  effusions  to  one  of  William 
Cynwal's,  and  the  latter  replied  with  three.  Edmund  Prys  next 
composed  nine  to  his  three.  He  replied  with  nine.  Prys  wrote 
a  merciless  criticism  of  his  work.  In  effect,  it  resolved  itself  into 

239 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

a  struggle  between  a  graduated  bard  and  an  unprofessional  bard, 
for  William  Cymval  had  chosen  to  criticise  Prys  on  this  latter 
ground,  a  procedure  which  naturally  put  him  on  his  mettle. 

The  Archdeacon  more  and  more  criticised  the  style  and 
workmanship  of  his  antagonist's  poems,  making  full  use  of  his 
sarcasm,  and  showing  that  they  contained  the  fifteen  faults  of 
cerdd  dafod,  and  much  false  teaching,  dangerous  to  soul  and  body, 
and  ending  up  his  letter  with  the  trenchant  words  "  O  achos  hyn 
yr  ydwyf  yn  deall,  mai  am  na  fedrwch  nac  adnabod  bai,  na  rhoddi 
drosoch,  yr  ydych  heb  ddyfod  yn  fy  wyneb.  Da  y  gwna  mab  heb 
ddyfod  i'r  maes,  am  na  fedr  na  tharo  na  derbyn.  Ewch  yn  iach  ! 
Eich  cydfrawd  mewn  cerdd  dafod,  Edmwnd  Prys."  When 
William  Cynwal  had  written  nineteen  cywyddau,  the  Archdeacon 
received  the  news  of  his  death,  and  composed  a  fine  elegy  on  the 
loss  of  one,  whom  he  termed  in  great  sincerity  "  y  fath  fardd 
godidog."  The  controversy  had  produced  thirty-five  cyivyddau 
from  the  Archdeacon's  pen,  and  one  marwnad. 

These  compositions  show,  amongst  other  things,  that  much 
animosity  existed  between  the  graduated  and  ungraduated  bards. 
Cynwal  had  written  : 

"  Pybyr  oedd  pawb  a  raddwyd." 
To  which  Prys  had  replied  : 

"  Gwr  heb  radd  pan  ddaw  ger  bron 
Gwyr  ddal  rhai  o'r  graddolion. 

Cynwal's  cywyddau  bore  ungrudging  testimony  to  Edmund 
Prys'  ability,  both  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  scholar.  He  wrote  : 

Uy  bregeth  hyd  y  brigyn, 

O  Dduw  a  ddaeth,  yn  dda  i  ddyn  ; 

Eiioed  eghiro  ydvvyd, 

Gair  Du\v.,  ei  agcriad  wyd  ! 

Lladinvvr  hael  div  eniaith, 

A  Groegwr  wyd,  *rugor  iaith  : 

O-i  mawr  oedd  Siuiner  addysg, 

Dy  gorph  uiae'n  llavvn  dawn  a  dys<*. 

It  was  part  of  Cynwai's  defence  that  he  had  never  attacked 
Prys  behind  his  back  : 

Ni  ddy  wedais  yn  y  ddeudir, 
Yn  hyr.aws  iawn,  hyn  sy  wir ; 
Yn  dy  gefu  enaid  y  gwan, 
Gwr  gwiw-gorffun  gair  gogan. 
240 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

One  of  the  chief  charges  brought  by  Prys  was  that  Cynwal 
had  denied  his  promise.  He  flourished  before  him  the  testimony 
of  his  own  letter  : 

"  Llythyr  a  geidw  fal  gwarchead, 
Llwyr  gof  fel  na  ellir  gwad. 


Ai  ryfeddu  wr  hefyd, 
Wadu'r  gair  ai  dori  i  gyd." 

William  Cynwal  most  strenuously  defended  himself  against 
this  charge  : 

"  Ni  thorais  rhaith  ddihareb, 
Ar  a  wn  i,  air  i  neb  ; 
Ni  wedais  er  a  nodych, 
Fy  Haw  a'i  gwaith,  fy  Hew  gwych. 


Nid  wyfmewn  barn  a  dyfyn, . 
Llai  fawrhad  mor  llwfr  a  hyn." 

And  he  advises  the  Archdeacon  to  confine  himself  to  the  duties 
of  his  sacred  office  : 

"  Gwyddost  gyfraith  y  gwiw  -  Dduw, 
Gwreiddia  ddysg  gwna  gerdd  i  Dduw." 

Edmund  Prys  resents  the  advice,  and  insists  on  drawing 
attention  to  Cynwal's  imperfections  as  a  bard,  and  exhorts  him  to 
study  the  works  of  the  better  bards  that  were  before  him  : 

"  Neddaist  wawd,  ni  wyddaist  ti, 
Boeth  Gynwal,  beth  a  geni 


Edrych  y  fwynwych  fonwent, 
Hanes  enw  cerdd  yr  hen  Sion  Cent." 

He  refuses  to  have  his  attention  diverted  from  the  main 
point,  viz.,  that  Cynwal  had  been  false  to  his  promise.  He  insists 
that  the  value  of  true  poetry  is  that  it  rests  on  truth  : 

"  A  gano  ffug  yn  y  ffau, 
Ar  gil,  ni  ddaw  i'r  golau  ; 
A  gano  wir  ac  ni  wad, 
A  gai  lewyrch  goleuad. 


A  gano  wir  heb  ddig  neb, 

Gwys  iawn  dengys  ei  wyneb, 

A  fo  drwg  ar  ei  fydr  wan, 

Eiddil  oil  a  ddel  allan  ; 

Ni  wyddost  er  a  neddir, 

O  boeth  gwawd  beth  yw  gwir," 


241 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

CynwaPs  reply  is  to  taunt  his  adversary  that  he  is  no  bard, 
that  he  was  untaught  and  had  no  bardic  status : 

"  Os  prydydd  wyd  llwyd  rhag  Haw, 
Hap  wawd  uthr,  pwy  yw  d'  athraw  ? 


Ni  elli  gael  flfael  syth  ffydd, 
Offeiriadaeth  a  Phrydydd. " 

Prys'  reply  to  this  was  to  disclose  Cynwal's  faults  in  cynglianedd 
and  to  charge  him  with  want  of  soul  and  sense.  He  challenges 
him  to  consent  to  arbitration  before  twelve  bards  and  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  but  Cynwal  steadily  refused  this  offer,  pleading  his 
age  as  an  excuse.  It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  over 
seventy  at  the  time.  The  Archdeacon  was  some  years  his  junior. 
There  is  evidence  in  the  poems  that  both  combatants  were 
tiring  of  the  fray,  for  the  early  cywyddau  much  excel  the  later 
ones.  These  became  deadly  monotonous  in  their  later  stages, 
and  there  is  small  wonder,  for  the  theme  was  not  inspiring.  The 
gist  of  the  Archdeacon's  many  hundred  lines  is  to  deprecate  his 
opponent's  want  of  learning,  and  to  re -iterate  his  perfidy,  whilst 
Cynwal's  lines  with  weary  monotony  maintain  the  status  of  the 
graduated  bard  and  their  monopoly  of  the  favours  of  the  Muse. 
Prys  sometimes  sneers  at  the  professional  bards,  whose  life  was 
mostly  spent,  he  insinuates,  in  passing  from  one  banquetting 
chamber  to  another : 

"  Nid  Ilyfr  Duw,  nid  llwybr  deall 
Yw'r  llwybr  o'r  neithior  i'r  Hall." 

But  from  the  right  food  that  sustains  poetry,  Cynwal  had  rigorously 
maintained  a  long  fast : 

"  Gwawdydd  newynog  ydwyd 
Ni  thewi,  ni  fyni  fwyd." 

There  is  a  suggestion  in  some  of  Edmund  Prys'  lines  that  he 
regarded  his  opponent  with  much  contempt,  looking  down  upon 
him  from  the  pedestal  of  learning  : 
"  Ofer  iawn  o  ferw  imi 
Ymhlith  iaith  ymhel  a  thi." 

He  compares  Cynwal's  laborious  efforts  to  a  mill  grinding  where 
there  is  not  grist : 

"  Melin  wyd  yn  malu'n  wag," 

242 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE   PERIOD 

In  another  cyivydd  he  compares  him  to  a  harmless  fly  : 

"  Gwell  un  gwalch  da  gall  hwn  ged 
Ami  wih  na  mil  o  wybed." 

In  another  there  is  a  reference  to  his  own  personal  appearance, 
when  he  states  that  his  wrath  against  Cynwal  is  not  as  black  as 
his  visage  : 

"  Nid  wyf,  Wiliam,  ddu  fy  eiliw 
I'm  Hid  mor  greulon — a'm  lliw." 

There  are  a  few  interesting  lines  in  which  Prys  with  much 
penetration  describes  certain  national  characteristics,  as  they  then 
existed  : 

"  Y  Ffleming  o  chaifi' lymaid 
Mynai  ar  win  fwy  na'i  raid  ; 
A  swydd  llawer  Sais  heddyw 
I  lenwi  'i  fol  yn  ei  fyw  ; 
Temtasiwn  y  nasiwn  ni 
Tra  hygawl  yw  trwy  wegi, 
A  rhoi  glust  a  rhugl  ostcg  ; 
I'w  glod  i  him  arogl  teg  ; 
A  choc-lie  pob  gwrach  hylwybr 
I  aduabod  pob  peth  dan  wybr." 

Different  sections  of  society,  he  maintains,  are  interdependent : 
"  A  phawb  sydd  a  phob  swyddau 
Dnvy  'u  gilydd  fel  gweydd  yn  gwau  ; 
A  phob  un  a  phawb  ai  w5'dd 
Gydag  elw  a  geidw  'i  gilydd 


Rhaid  i  bawb  yr  hyd  i  bydd 
Wrth  gael  hirwaith  i  gilydd." 

And  in  this  connection  he  does  not  forget  to  impress  Cynwal 
that  bardism  is  dependent  upon  learning  : 

"  Rhaid  i  farad  rhuad  ferw-ddawn 
Wrth  ddysg  o  gwnai  araith  iawn. 
Nid  rhaid  i  ddysg  tra  ddod  ddydd 
laith  barodwaith  wrth  brydydd. 
A  fedro  ddysg  ymysg  mil 
Mwy  nag  un  Art  maern  gynil ; 
Finau  er  fy  nifenvvi 
A  fcdraf  bart  o'ch  Ait  chwi." 

The  death  of  William  Cynwal.  as  has  been  stated,  finished 
the  contest,  and  Edmund  Prys'  Marivnad  is  another  illustration 
of  the  truth  of  the  old  proverb  "  Os  mynni  glod,  bydd  farw,"  for 
it  is  a  pcean  of  praise  from  beginning  to  end,  0.$  such  effusions 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

generally  were.  It  takes  the  form,  much  affected  at  the  time,  of  a 
dialogue  between  the  living  bard  and  the  messenger  who 
announced  the  death  of  Cynwal.  The  late  controversy  is 

explained  thus : 

"  Nid  o  gas  y  canaswn 
Ond  o  serch  yn  dewis  hwn." 

The  elegy  concludes  with  lines  full  of  regretful  longing  for  the 
dead  bard,  and  an  unstinted  tribute  of  admiration  for  his  prowess 

in  verse  : 

"  Gwawdydd  fardd  gadawodd  fi 
O'r  diwedd  drwy  hir  dewi  ; 
Tra  fu  yn  mathu  in'  mysg 
Aur  a  gemau  ar  gymysg  ; 


Tad  mawl  mae  mewn  tyfod  man, 
Tyfod  Yspytty  Ifan. 
Duw  yn  ei  gofl  da  iawn  gyflwr 
Doe  aeth  ag  ef  doetha  gwr, 
I  eistedd  fod  Crist  a'i  noddfa 
Llys  deg  llawn  ewyllys  da  ; 
Oddi  yno  ni  ddaw  enyd 
Ond  teg  yw  awn  ato  i  gyd." 

The  merits  of  the  controversy  between  Edmund  Prys  and 
William  Cynwal  have  been  discussed  by  many  writers.  Some 
have  thought  that  the  former  was  too  severe,  and  that  his  vast 
store  of  learning  should  have  made  him  a  more  lenient  critic  of 
one  whose  advantages  in  this  direction  had  been  so  meagre.  On 
the  other  hand  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  contests  were 
looked  upon  by  the  bards  as  special  opportunities  for  rapier 
thrusts,  and  the  whole  bardic  fraternity  of  that  part  of  Wales  were 
probably  interested  spectators  of  the  contest  and  sided  with  one 
or  other  of  the  antagonists.  We  have  already  noticed  how,  on 
one  occasion,  Thomas  Prys,  of  Plas  lolyn,  came  to  the  rescue  of 
a  bard  who  was  getting  the  worst  of  it.  Edmund  Prys  also  felt 
that  he  was  championing  the  cause  of  a  numerous  class,  which 
did  not  belong  to  the  fraternity,  whose  arrogant  claims  are  so 
frequently  asserted  in  Cynwal's  lines.  Measured  by  the  standard 
of  our  own  age,  a  close  inspection  of  these  cywyddau  ymryson 
does  not  reveal  much  that  is  contrary  to  -good  taste  and  literary 
844 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

propriety.  The  personal  thrusts  were  common  to  both  sides,  and 
certainly  would  not  be  considered  scurrilous,  or  even  ungentlemanly, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  One  can  well  agree 
with  the  critic  who  wrote  :  "  Ni  welsom  erioed  ddadl  lenyddol 
yn  cael  ei  dwyn  ymlaen  yn  fwy  cymhedrol,  boneddigaidd,  a 
dysgedig.  Y  mae'n  wir  bod  y  naill  a'r  Hall  weithiau  yn  bur  llym, 
ond  nid  ydynt  byth  yn  troseddu  rheolau  moesau  da ;  ac  i'n  bryd 
ni  y  mae'r  ddadl,  yn  anibynol  ar  werth  mewnol  y  cywyddau,  yn 
esiampl  odidog  o  ddau  wr  bonheddig  yn  dadleu  ar  bynciau 
llenyddol."1 

Morgan  Llwyd  o  Wynedd,  who  must  be  allowed  the 
first  place  amongst  the  Welsh  prose  writers  of  original  work  in 
this  century,  had  also  considerable  attainments  as  a  poet  and 
hymn -writer.  A  collection  of  his  songs,  hymns,  and  engfynion 
was  made  in  1899  by  the  late  T.  E.  Ellis,  M.P.  for  Merioneth- 
shire, and  in  it  we  find  no  less  than  fifty -two  poetical  pieces  of 
various  kinds  in  Welsh  and  English.  The  majority  of  them  are 
in  English.  They  deal  mostly  with  the  times  in  which  he  lived, 
and  are  permeated  with  the  theological  tenets  of  the  Fifth 
Monarchy  men.  They  also  throw  considerable  light  on  the 
isolation  in  which  Morgan  Llwyd  found  himself  towards  the  end 
of  his  days,  when  his  ideals  were  shattered  and  many  of  his 
followers  had  deserted  him.  At  the  same  time,  no  one  who 
reads  them  can  doubt  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions.  The  pre- 
dominant note  in  his  poems  is  disappointment.  He  sits  like  the 
prophet  of  old  under  his  juniper  tree,  and  in  despair  yearns  for 
death.  The  first  poem  in  the  collection  is  entitled  "The 
Desolation,  Lamentation  and  Resolution  of  the  Welsh  Saincts  in 
the  Late  Warrs.  Sung  in  1643."  Its  opening  lines  strike  the 
minor  key,  which  is  preserved  almost  throughout  his  poems, 
except  in  an  occasional  stanza  of  his  hymns,  in  which,  in  a  flight 
of  spiritual  ecstasy,  he  rises  above  the  hard  facts  of  his  position  at 
the  time.  He  has,  occasionally,  severe  things  to  say  of  those  who 
have  deserted  him,  to  whose  unfaithfulness  he  ascribes  the  failure 
1  Hants  y  Brytaniaid  a!  r  Cymru,  vol.  ii.,  p.  421. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

of  his  cause.  At  the  same  time,  he  is  not  without  hope  that  the 
future  will  justify  him.  He  regards  himself  as  living  in  the 
winter  of  the  world,  which  must  soon  give  place  to  the  awakening 
life  of  spring,  the  sunshine  and  joy  of  summer,  and  the  ripe  harvest 
of  autumn.  In  political  and  religious  matters,  he  aims  his  shafts 
at  the  Parliament,  Presbyterians,  Scotch,  Dutch,  Church  of 
England,  and  Pope  in  turns.  Perhaps  his  most  bitter  invective  is 
employed  against  the  last  named.  All  his  verse  proclaims  him 
the  strong,  resolute  partisan,  who  will  not  recede  an  inch  from 
the  position  he  has  taken  up,  cost  it  what  it  may.  But  in  main- 
taining that  position  the  iron  has  entered  into  his  soul.  Apart 
from  his  hymns,  his  bitterness  is  felt  in  every  page,  but  there  can 
also  be  traced  signs  of  a  spirit  mellowing  under  affliction,  which 
is  ready  to  forgive  much,  which  revolts  against  faction,  and  has  an 
unquenchable  longing  for  unity,  but  that  unity  is  to  be  achieved 
by  no  departure  from  his  own  rigid  tenets.  The  opening  lines  of 
the  poem  just  referred  to,  are  as  follows  : 

"  Mae  honom  ychydig,  0  blant  cystuddiedig 

A  adawyd  yn  unig  ynghymru. 
Ynghanol  ein  cystudd,  yn  cwyno  iw  gilydd 
An  calon  sydd  beynydd  yn  pallu. 

Mae'r  defaid  ar  wasgar,  mewn  tristwch  a  galar 

Mae  rhai  yn  y  carchar  yn  pydru. 
Mae  rhai  wedi  ymadel,  gan  gymryd  hir  ffarwel 

Mae  rhai  yn  y  dirgel  yn  llechu. 
Mae  rhyfedd  newidiad,  dros  wyneb  yr  hollwlad 

Pie  ceir  dim  gwir  gariad  mewn  undyn. 
y  byd  a  dywyllodd,  y  ddayar  a  grynnodd, 

ar  nefoedd  a  dduodd  in  herhyn. 


Diffoddwyd  pob  canwyll,  holl  gymru  sydd  dywyll, 

pie  ceir  nndyn  didwyll  drwy'r  hollwlad. 
fe  gwympodd  rhai  cryfion,  fe  ballodd  y  moddion 

fe  oerodd  ein  calon  an  cariad." 

There  is  no  doubt  in  these  lines,  written  in  1643,  that 
Morgan  Llwyd  regarded  the  Civil  War,  at  the  first,  as  putting  an 
end  to  God's  Kingdom  in  Wales,  for  he  writes : 

"  Ei  wyneb  a  guddiodd,  ei  foliant  a  gollodd, 
Ei  Deyrnas  a  gwympodd  ynghymru." 

The  beating  of  the  drums  and  the  sounding  of  the  bugles 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

were  to  him  the  sign  that  men's  sins  had  overtaken  them,  and 
that  God  had  turned  away  his  face  in  anger.  But  he  predicts 
that  a  return  to  God  will  bring  changed  conditions  : 

"  Ond  etto  er  cynted,  y  bom  ni  llawn  addfed 
fe  droir  ein  caethiwed  ni'n  gyflym. 


Er  bod  y  tywyllwch,  y  gauaf  a'r  tristwch, 

y  nos  ar  anialwch  ynghymru 
yr  haul  a  fyn  godi,  y  wawr  a  fyn  dorri, 

A  Christ  fyn  reoli  heb  pallu." 

There  are  already  signs  in  his  verse  that  he  regarded  the 
upheaval  of  the  Civil  War  as  a  prelude  to  the  establishment  of 
Christ's  Kingdom  on  earth  : 

"  Cawn  weled  ei  wrthiau,  cawn  gyfwrdd  ai  seintiau 
cawn  gadw'n  eneidiau'n  dragywydd." 

This  belief  in  the  millenium  he  makes  more  evident  in  his 
poem,  "  Our  Lord  is  coming  once  againe  "  : 

"  When  he  appears  we  shall  rejoyce,  as  many  as  are  his, 
and  judge  the  world  and  with  him  bee,  in  everlasting  blisse." 

As  he  contemplates  the  event,  he  rises  to  a  height  of  spiritual 
ecstasy,  and  declaims  : 

"  Hosanna  crye  King  Jesus  comes,  He-ele  summer  with  him  bring 
A  meeke  just  strong  faire  lasting  Prince 
Again  Hosanna  sing." 

The  spiritual  "  winter "  of  the  nations,  he  ascribes  to  Beelzebub 
and  "  the  Pope,  his  son  and  foole,"  whose  health  the  peoples  had 
drunk  too  long,  "  till  their  wits  were  drowned."  But  the  spring  is 
coming : 

"  God's  twins  (the  testaments)  speake  loud 
that  Michael  long  shall  raigne." 

It  is  being  prepared  for  by  the  clash  of  nations  and  the  fall 
of  thrones : 

"  The  nations  are  on  potters  wheeles 
the  ancient  thrones  do  shake." 

The  darkness  is  but  the  worst  hour  before  the  dawn  : 

"  But  one  houre  before  day  is  darke 
that  great  Ecclypse  is  near 
one  fierce  and  farewell  storme  and  then 
the  evening  will  bee  cleare." 

T.  o  bring  about  this  consummation,  however,  he  pleads  for  the 

?47 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

unity  of  Christendom.     He  argues  that  the  points  of  agreement 
are  many,  and  the  points  of  difference  small  and  few  : 

"  Its  true  we  differ  in  small  points 
as  clocks  in  cittyes  do 
some  travellers  do  lag  behind 
Who  yet  to  Salem  go. 
Know  that  Christs  army  hath  two  wings 
and  diffring  colours  all 
his  house  hath  divers  sorted  rooms 
his  trees  are  short  and  tall. 
Mens  faces,  voices,  differ  much, 
saincts  are  not  all  one  size 
flowers  in  one  garden  vary  too 
lett  none  monpolize. 
In  our  Gamaliel's  schoole  there  are 
and  will  bee  many  forms 
and  divers  branches  on  one  root 
that  clash  in  time  of  storms. 

Oat  of  all  these  will  Christ  compound 

an  army  for  himselfe 

so  satan  gets  of  all  these  sects 

the  parings  and  the  pelfe." 

He  does  not  definitely  state  what  parts  of  Christendom  he 
expects  to  unite,  and  possibly  confines  his  vision  to  the  sects  who 
had  broken  away  from  the  Church  in  this  land.  He  obviously 
omits  Rome,  unless  the  latter  was  willing  to  be  "  cured": 

"  Rome  was  the  hammer  of  the  earth 
now  lady  comes  thy  day 
and  thou  Italian  gouted  leg 
be  cur-d  or  cutt  away." 

Ireland's  subjection  to  Rome  also  necessitates  a  course  of 
physick  for  her  before  she  can  be  admitted  into  the  scope  of  the 
bard's  vision  of  unity  : 

"  Ireland  looks  like  a  fallow-ground 
thou  must  be  plow-d  againe 
thou  shall  have  physick  that  will  kill 
thy  worms  that  do  thee  paine." 

He  claims  that  what  is  wrong  with  Rome  is  that  she  places  the 
letter  before  the  spirit : 

"  Papists  the  letter  of  God's  word 
above  the  meaning  prize." 

As  his  ideals  seem  to  dissipate  into  thin  air,  his  opinion  of 
man  grows  worse,  and  he  refers  to  mankind  as  "  a  shallow  shell," 
24$ 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

He  has  best  expressed  it  in  his  two  englynion  entitled  Eiddikdd 
Dyn: 

"  Mor  egwan,  mor  wan,  mor  wael — mor  wrthyn 

Mai  erthyl  di-afael.   , 
Ymrwyfydd  mewn  ymrafael 
Yw  pob  dyn  ai  fun  ai  fael. 
Mo  dduw  yn  ei  fyw  ni  fyn — mawr  alaeth 

Marwolaeth  ai  dyfyn 
(Pan  wywo  y  blodeCiyn) 
Aiffymaith  ir  daith  ar  dyn." 

In  his  poem  "Sweet  Master  Christ,"  he  upbraids  himself  with 
having  been  guided  too  much  by  Reason  and  too  little  by  Faith  : 

"  Sweet  Master  Christ,  bring  me  ashore 

I  promise  through  thy  might 
Never  to  worship  Reason  more 
Nor  follow  fancyes  light." 

The  dissolution  of  the  body  he  regards  as  a  setting  free  from 
"the  wombe  of  this  darke  world."  The  ideal  life  is  one  of 
soberness ;  dulness,  sorrow,  and  laughter,  which  he  terms  "  folly  in 
chiefe,"  are  to  be  avoided  in  its  favour.  Wisdom  is  "  the  chiefest 
thing."  The  only  real  peace  is  inward  peace,  the  only  real 
strength  to  rest  in  God  : 

"  I  am  immoovable  with  thee 
I  moove  and  do  not  moove." 

A  frequent  prayer  on  his  lips  is  for  the  conversion  of  the 

Jews: 

"  Difetha  Anghrist  ymhob  gwlad 
tro  attad  yr  Iddewon." 

His  enmity  against  the  Scots  for  the  part  they  played  in  the 
Civil  War  is  unbounded.  He  dubs  them  "  the  northerne 
Brokers  "  and  a  "  forraine  foe." 

"  Gwel  fy  llygaid,  frynniau  Scottiaid 

ysgatfydd  mae  nhw'n  uchel 
yr  Arglwydd  mawr  mewn  mynud  awr 
ai  tynn  nhwy  i  lawr  yn  isel." 

His  antagonism  to  Charles  I.  he  makes  no  effort  to  disguise, 
and  argues  that  looking  at  things  "  from  first  to  last "  his  sentence 
was  well  merited  : 

"  Looke  not  too  much  on  few  late  things 

View  all  from  first  to  last 
Since  James  his  dayes,  and  wonder  not 
that  such  a  sentence  past. 

249 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Though  this  pen  loaths  to  touch  dead  Charles 

it  warns  the  living  all 
lest  any  stumble  at  his  corps, 

and  breake  their  necks  withall." 

It  is  obvious  that  he  expected  a  great  change  after  the  King's 

downfall : 

"  Fowre  things  expect  within  few  years 

To  men  a  Judge  most  strange 
To  Rome  a  fall.     To  Jewes  a  call 
To  heaven  and  earth  a  change." 

In  his  poem,  "  Hanes  rhyw  Gymro,"  he  sketches  a  history 
of  his  own  life,  and  relates  his  wanderings  through  various  cities, 
and  pauses  to  contemplate  man  himself  under  the  allegory  of  a 

city  : 

"  Dinas  fawr  iw  Dyn  ei  hunan 
Gwae  a  elo  o  honi  allan 
Gwae  nid  el  o  hono  i  hunan 
Gwae  a  dricco  yn  i  unfan." 

In  this  poem  he  makes  some  sober  reflections  on  time,  on  the 
world,  and  on  experience  : 

"  Amser  byrr  sy'n  torri  teyrnas 
Mynud  awr  sy'n  codi  dinas 


Mae'r  holl  ddayar  fel  dilledyn 
A  newidir  mewn  un  flwyddyn 

Gwelais  lai  a  mwy  narn  tadau, 
Gwel  fy  meibion  fwy  na  minnau." 

But  the  mystic  year  1660  is  to  put  all  things  right : 

"  Nid  i'w  oes  y  byd  ond  wythnus 
ar  mawr  sabbath  sydd  yn  agos 
Paratowch  cyn  dyfod  trigain 
Gwae'r  Twrk,  Cythrel,  Cnawd,  a  Rhufain. 
ynys  brydain  yn  y  gogledd 
a  dyrr  Europe  yn  y  diwedd 
Brenin  mawr  a  ddaw  o'r  dwyrain 
Mae  fo  yn  agos  :  cenwch  blygain." 


"  Cyn  mil  a  chwechant  a  chwe  deg 
mae  blwyddyn  deg  yn  dyfod." 

To  teach  his  children  wisdom  (as  he  states)  he  wrote  a  summary 
of  his  life,  describing  it  in   five   stages,   each   represented   by   a 
sacred  mount,  viz.,  Olives,  Sinai,  Sion,  Gilboa,  and  Nebo  : 
"  Fy  hanes  i  i  gyd  yw  hyn 
o  fryn  i  fryn  tramwyais." 
250 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

On  the  first  mount  he  tasted  regeneration,  on  the  second  he  felt 
the  terror  of  the  Law,  on  the  third  he  found  mercy  and  peace, 
on  the  fourth  controversy  and  war,  and  from  the  summit  of  the 

last : 

"  Rvvi'n  awr  yn  gweled  Canaan  wych 
llei  caf  (wrth  edrych)  hedeg." 

In  his  poem,  "  lechyd  ir  Corph,"  he  has  enumerated  twenty 
maxims  for  physical  and  moral  health.  They  are  written  in 
couplets,  and  are  little  gems  of  wisdom,  each  worthy  of  finding  a 
place  as  a  proverb  in  the  language  : 

"  Mewn  pryd  bydd  synhwyrol 
am  iechyd  naturiol 
Ymgadw  rhag  afraid 
A  gochel  dy  lonaid 
a  thristwch  a  phechod 
a  phryf  y  gydwybod 
Yn  gyntaf  bydd  nefol 
yn  ail  bydd  naturiol. 
Diweirdeb  naturiaeth 
iw'r  iawn  bysygwriaeth. 
Yn  gynnil  ymbortha, 
Drwy  chwys  bwytta  fara. 

Na  waria  yn  ofer 

un  fodfedd  o'th  nmser." 

He  has  several  shafts  directed  against  Holland,  which  was  at 
war  with  England  in  the  early  days  of  the  Commonwealth  : 

"  Some  Dutch  are  deep  suspicious  birds 
false  drunken  beasts  withall. 


Holland  begins  to  pledge  you  all, 

And  sipps  the  wrathfull  cup. 
And  peace  with  them  you  shall  not  make, 

lest  you  with  Ahab  sup." 

He  has  a  beautiful  stanza  defining  the  soul : 

"  Rhyw  sylwedd  ysbrydol,  Rhyw  ysbrycl  tragwyddol 

Rhyw  gysgod  or  nefol  naturiaeth 
Rhyw  dan  oddiuchod,  Rhyw  anadl  y  Duwdod 
iw'r  Enaid  ai  waelod  naturiaeth,'' 

The  avidity  of  man  in  business  pursuits,  and  his  apathy 
towards  hearing  the  word  of  God,  he  describes  in  the  following 
stanza ; 

251 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Teithio  i'r  farchnad,  prynnu  yd 

a  thalu'n  ddrud  am  dano 
Er  bod  gair  Duw  yn  llyniaeth  gwell 
nid  ei  di  neppell  erddo." 

His  ministry  at  Wrexham  is  described  in  the  poem,  "  A  Song 
of  my  Beloved  concerning  his  Vineyard,"  in  which  he  presents  the 
contrast  between  "  what  they  were  "  and  "  what  they  are  now." 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  majority  of  his  former  friends 
refused  to  follow  him  in  his  extreme  views.  Apparently  his  first 
fifteen  years  there  were  lived  in  harmony  with  his  followers  : 

"  full  fifteene  yeares  they  had  showers 

and  dew  from  heaven  sweet 
There  sprung  up  also  many  flowers 
and  saincts  at  Jesus'  feet. 


But  now  the  bryers  are  come  up 

and  thorns  and  thistles  tall 
therefore  with  Christ  they  do  not  sup 

in  ordinances  all." 

He  puts  to  his  late  flock  the  same  queries  as  those  asked  by 
the  prophet  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah : 

"  And  for  my  vineyard  what  could  I 

have  done  more  than  I  did 
I  looked  for  fruit  not  for  a  lye 

but  found  corruption  hid. 
And  now  Wales  England  judge  I  pray 

between  me  and  my  vine, 
find  out  the  cause  without  delay 

See  if  the  fault  be  mine." 

In  a  poem  headed  "  1654,"  he  describes  the  three  Com- 
monwealth parliaments  as  "  The  long  old  Parliament,"  "  The  hott 
young  Parliament,"  and  "The  third  slow  Parliament,"  and  he 
describes  the  uncertainty  of  the  times  and  the  multitude  of 
counsels  that  prevailed,  in  the  following  lines : 

"  Aske  no  we  what  shall  be  next 
the  folks  have  many  minds 
few  can  expound  this  knotty  text 
so  various  are  these  winds." 

At  the  end  of  his  life  he  sings  his  vanitas  vanitatum  in  the 
poem  entitled,  "  All  things  are  vaine  and  full  of  paine,"  and  he 
longs  for  death  to  release  him  : 
252 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

"  My  heart  is  now  I  know  not  how, 
lord,  when  wilt  thou  by  death  mee  kisse. 


Straight  steps  I  see  for  you  and  mee, 
lord  make  me  free,  thou  knowest  how. 

My  withered  heart,  within  doth  smart 
My  witt  &  art  do  quite  mee  faile 
My  mind  &  voice  cannot  rejoyce 
when  shall  I  hoyse  up  my  last  saile  ? 


I  proved  joy  and  every  toy 
I  found  them  coy  &  full  of  sin 
Thy  blessed  breast  I  love  it  best 
when  shall  I  rest  &  rowle  therein  ?  " 

This  is  followed  by  his  "  Hymn  o  Hiraeth  am  Baradwys." 
In  it  there  is  ample  evidence  of  the  heavy  sufferings  of  his  life, 
and  his  longing  to  be  at  rest  : 

"  Llei  mae  distawrwydd  byth  heb  gri 

llei  mae  goleuni  disclair 
lie  byth  nim  cyrhaedd  neb  om  cas 
llei  mae  i  mi  bias  a  chadair. 

Er  bod  y  corph  yn  wael  dros  ben 

bid  f  enaid  lawen  hyfryd 
di  gai  dy  dynni  cyn  bo  hir 

oddiyma  i  dir  y  bywyd. 


Lie  ni  ddaw  byth  y  Cwestiwn  pam, 

Na  chwyn  na  cham  na  chwmwl, 
Lie  nid  oes  ofal  yn  y  byd, 

Na  phwys  na  phenyd  meddwl. 

Cerais  o  Dduw  dy  liw  a'th  llais, 

Mi'th  gerais  am  holl  egni, 
Rwi  wedi  nofio  hyd  at  y  Ian, 

Nad  i  mi  rowan  foddi." 

If  one  interprets  his  last  poem  literally,  he  seems  to  have  died 
both  poor  and  destitute  of  friends.  He  complains  that  "  friends 
are  but  broken  reeds,"  and  that  he  had  "  a  charge  so  great,  of 
children,  cares,  and  thoughts,"  which  "  make  his  heart  to  sweate," 
but  he  upbraids  himself  for  his  lack  of  faith  in  allowing  these 
worldly  considerations  to  interfere  with  his  peace  of  mind  : 

"  the  more  of  worldly  thoughts  I  find 
the  more  my  heart  grows  mad." 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

And  yet : 

"  If  man's  eternall  mind  stood  still 
he  should  not  want  poore  clay 
but  when  man  hunts  for  earth  with  will 
The  earth  then  runs  away." 

But  with  his  last  thoughts  he  drives  away  carking  care  : 

"  To  morrow  cares  for  selfe  I  know 

sufficient  to  the  houre 
is  present  ,evill,  dig  not  for  wo 
It  will  both  grow  and  sowre." 

Sufficient  has  been  culled  from  his  work  to  show  that  Morgan 
Llwyd  had  the  soul  of  a  poet.  It  was  a  soul  sensitive  to  pain,  but 
buoyed  up  by  'an  iron  determination  to  stand  true  to  its  convic- 
tions. Without  doubt  he  was  the  greatest  Welsh  Puritan  of  this 
period,  an  original  thinker,  and  endowed  with  a  capacity  for 
expressing  himself  in  prose  and  verse  second  to  none  among  his 
Welsh  contemporaries.  He  was  a  better  prose  writer  than  poet ; 
but  the  language  would  be  the  poorer,  if  we  were  deprived  of  the 
thoughts  he  has  enshrined  in  verse,  perhaps,  not  always  in  the 
most  felicitous  diction,  but  always  with  a  directness  and  clearness, 
which  leave  one  in  no  doubt  as  to  his  meaning.  It  is  a  tribute  to 
his  courage  that  he  never  once  in  those  dangerous  times  obscured 
himself  behind  ambiguous  phrases.  He  sang  on  no  uncertain 
note,  and  at  his  best  he  sang  well.  He  was  a  Fifth -monarchy 
man  to  the  end,  and  never  disavowed  his  principles,  although 
they  involved  him  in  the  loss  of  most,  if  not  all,  of  his  friends. 

Rowland  Vaughan,  of  Caergai,  who  was  one  of  the  most 
ardent  Welsh  cavaliers,  wrote  a  number  of  hymns,  carols,  and 
lyrics,  very  few  of  which  have  been  preserved.  In  the  third 
edition  of  Carolan  a  Dyriau  Duwiol,  1720,  there  appear  seven  of 
his  compositions,  which  consist  of  two  Christmas  carols,  a  poem 
entitled  Hanes  Moses,  a  dyri  comparing  man's  life  to  things  that 
perish,  another  comparing  it  to  a  game,  and  two  more  describing 
a  sinner's  supplication  for  mercy  and  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  a 
sinner's  confession.  In  Dyriau  o  Ymbil  Pechadur  am  Drugaredd 
occur  the  lines  which  have  become  familiar  in  every  Welsh  hymn,- 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

book,  but  which   are  so   often    wrongly   attributed  to  Edmund 
Prys  : 

"Na  thro  d'Wyneb,  Arglwydd  glan, 
Oddiwrth  un  truan  agwedd  ; 
Y  sydd  o  flaen  dy  Borth  yn  awr, 
Mewn  cystudd  mawr  yn  gorwedd." 

Rowland  Vaughan  is  also  the  author  of  another  well-known 
Whitsun  hymn  : 

"  Tyr'd  Yspryd  Glan,  i'n  c'lonau  ni, 

A  dod  d'  oleuni  nefol ; 
Tydi  wyt  Yspryd  Crist,  dy  ddawn 
Sydd  fawr  iawn  a  ihagorol." 

At  the  battle  of  Naseby,  he  assisted  the  Royalist  cause  with 
a  company  of  men,  but  his  loyalty  cost  him  dear,  for  in  the 
following  year  his  home,  Caergai,  was  burned  to  the  ground  by 
the  Cromwellians,  and  his  heritage  given  to  a  kinsman. 

"  Caer  Gni  nid  difai  fu  gwaith  tan — arnad, 

Oernych  wyrl  yrwan  ; 
Caer  aethost  i'm  car  weithian, 
Caer  Gai  lie  bu  cywirgan." 

William  Phylip  also  mentions  the  destruction  of  Caer  Gai  in 
the  following  englyn  : 

"  Mil  chwe  chant  gwarant  gwiwrai — yn  dygwydd, 

Pump  a  deugain  difai ; 
Er  dwyn  i'r  gwyr  adwaenni, 
Ar  gof  pan  losgwyd  Caer  Gai." * 

He  remained  a  fugitive  until  the  Restoration.  Some  say  he 
was  imprisoned  for  three  years,2  but  this  is  doubtful.  In  his 
wanderings  he  is  supposed  to  have  come  across  the  old  bard, 
William  Phylip,  of  Ardudwy,  who  was  also  a  fugitive,  somewhere 
in  the  Merionethshire  mountains.  Rowland  Vaughan  relieved 
his  feelings  in  verse,  as  follows  : 

"  Pe  cawn  i'r  Pengrynion 

Rhwng  ceulan  ac  afon 
Ac  yn  fy  Haw  goedftbn  o  linon  ar  li', 

Mi  a  gurwn  yn  gethin 

Yn  nghweryl  fy  mrenin, 
Mi  a'u  gyrrwn  yn  un  byddin  i'w  boddi." 

1K  Brython,  1861,  p.  284.     2  Hanes  Lltnyddiatth  Gymreig,  p.  22. 

,'55 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  old  bard  promptly  followed  up  the  theme  with  all  the  ardour 
a  septuagenarian  could  muster  : 

"  Pe  cawn  i'r  Pengryniaid 

Ar  ben  goriwaered, 
Er  gwaned  a  hyned  wyf  heno, 
A  phastwn  du-ddraenen — 
'Rwy'n  ddeuddeg  a  thrigairi — 
Chwi  a'm  gwelech  i'n  llawen  yn  llowio." 

At  the  Restoration,  Rowland  Vaughan  returned  to  his  old 
home  and  rebuilt  it,  and  inscribed  above  the  entrance  the  follow- 
ing stanza  : 

"  Dod  glod  i  bawb  yn  ddibrin, 
A  char  dy  frawd  cyffredin  ; 
Ofna  Dduw  can's  hyn  sydd  dda, 
Ac  anrhydedda'r  brenin." 

There  is  one  poem  of  his  printed  in  the  Blodeugerdd,  entitled 
Adroidiad  fal  y  bu  gynt.  It  is  a  recital  of  the  wrongs  inflicted 
by  the  Puritans  and  Parliament  in  the  day  of  their  power,  from 
a  Royalist  standpoint.  In  it  he  mentions  the  injuries  done  to  the 
churches  by  the  Cromwellians  : 

"  Dirmygu'n  pen  llywydd,  a  dryllio'r  eglwysydd, 
Pan  ddaeth  y  ffydd  newydd,  mae'n  irwin  ei  brad, 
Hawdd  fydd  i'r  hen  ddynion,  a'u  crefydd  yn  deillion, 
Oedd  well  eu  gweithredon  coeth  rodiad. 
Hwy  ddryllien'  Organau,  a'r  Gwydr,  a'r  Lluniau, 
O  gas  i'r  hen  Ddelwau,  addolid  yn  bur." 


A  collection  of  the  poems  of  Rowland  Vaughan  is  badly 
needed,  and  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  his  place  among  the 
Welsh  bards  until  this  task  is  accomplished. 

Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd,  was  a  personal  friend  of 
Rowland  Vaughan.  There  is  a  record  of  his  offering  a  copy  of 
his  Dictionary  to  the  latter,  with  the  following  englynion  in  his 

praise  : 

"  Gwr  ydych  Rowland  o  gyff — uniawnwaed 

Un  wna  i'w  gyrdd  gwaewgryff ; 
Cywyddau  onglau  anghlyft ; 
Ac  Englynion  hoywon  hyff. 
Hwre  hyn  o  lyfr,  wr  a  hyff — gweled 

Gwaelawd  geirion  gyrddbryff ; 
Cais  iddo  rwymo,  pan  ryff, 
A  gwaisgrwym  a  ddyg  ysgryff."  * 

1  Y  Brythw,  1861,  p.  284. 
256 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

William  Phylip  (1577-1669),  the  bard  who  has  just  been 
noticed  in  connection  with  Rowland  Vaughan  of  Caergai,  wrote 
an  elegy  on  the  death  of  Charles  I.,  under  the  title,  Cywydd 
Manvnad  Siarles  y  Cyntaf,  1648-9.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
devoted  Welsh  royalists,  and  for  this  effusion  he  fell  under  the 
violent  resentment  of  the  Cromwellians,  lost  his  property,  and 
took  refuge  in  flight.  His  deplorable  situation,  the  cause  of  it, 
and  his  strong  faith  in  the  Restoration,  he  commemorates  in  the 
following  lines ; 

"  Ni  feiddiaf,  llechaf  ar  fyd  llychwin — 'r  rhawg, 

Gwae  ni  rai  cyffredin, 
Am  gellwair  un  gair  mewn  gwin, 
O  fawr  anhap  am_/ renin. 
Gad  ymaith  fwyniaith  a  fo — bur  union, 

Fe  ddaw  brenin  eto  ; 
A  gad  fod  ei  glod  tan  glo — 
Ust !     Wiliam  onis  delo. 

Am  ddywedyd  hofffryd  wir  ffri — ar  gan 

Mae  dnvg  anhap  imi, 
Bygwth  y  maent  heb  wcgi, 
Y  cledd  ar  fy  nannedd  i. 
Fe  ddaw  byd  astud  di-dostach — didwyll 

Haws  dywedyd  cyfrinach ; 
A'm  calon  union  yn  iach, 
A  'nhafod  beth  yn  hyfach. 


Llechu,  nid  canu,  cwynais — oer  wewyr, 

A'r  Awen  a  gollais, 
Braidd  fyw — ac  yn  brudd  fy  ais, 
Wylaw  am  fyd  a  welais  ! 

Ni  chaf  ddol,  maenol,  na  mynydd — dof, 

Na  dyfais  awenydd, 
Na  rhoi  'mhen  ar  obenydd, 
Na'r  coed  led  fy  nhroed  yn  rhydd." 

His  attitude  towards  Cromwell  is  expressed  without  restraint  in 
the  following  englyn  : 

"  Fob  tynged  galed  heb  gel, — a  gaffo, 

Ac  uffern  ddi  dawel  ; 
Cryrcan  am  wddw  Cromwel, 
A  chrogbren  i'w  ddiben  ddel." 

The  story  goes  that  he  was  imprisoned  for  this,  and  made  his 
apology  in  another  engfyn  : 

257 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Dywedaf  fynaf  gwae  fi — o'r  d'wedyd 

Ond  edid  fy  ngweddi ; 
Goreu  dim,  gwyr  Daw   imi, 
Wnio  fy  safn  yn  foes  i." x 

The  aged  bard  afterwards  composed  his  differences  with  the 
Commonwealth,  and  returned  to  his  home,  Hendre  Fechan, 
which  was  the  occasion  of  the  following  englyn  : 

"  No  ffo,  dan  wylltio,  o'r  neilltu — i'r  grug, 

Nac  i'r  graig  i  lechu — 
Wyr  tonog — os  rhaid  hynny, 
Hwy'm  can'  wrth  y  tan  yn  ty." 

He  was  afterwards  offered  the  most  galling  employment  of  tax- 
gatherer  under  the  Protectorate.  On  presenting  the  assessment 
at  each  house,  he  was  wont  to  say  : 

"  Am  frad  i'r  holl-wlad,  wyr  hyllion — a'u  trwst, 

Codi  treth  anghyfion, 
Hwy  gant  dal  a  gofalon, 
A  chas  hir  o  achos  hon." 

Then  upon  producing  his  warrant,  he  added : 

"  Dyma  warant  sant  dan  sel, — attolwg, 

Tehvch  yn  ddiochel, 
Rhag  i'r  sant  a  chwant  ni  chSl 
Ymgethri  a  mynd  yn  Gythrel." 

Phylip  Sion  Phylip,  his  fellow  bard  and  kinsman,  composed 
a  marwnad  to  him,  in  which  he  mentions  his  famous  poem  on 
the  death  of  Charles  L,  as  follows  : 

"  Ei  gwyn  am  Siarls  genym  sydd 
Yn  brintiedig,  braint  dedwydd  ; 
Teilwng  oedd  Ian  ben  talaith, 
Yn  brint  roi  'i  holl  iawn-bur  iaith." 

His  extreme  old  age  is  mentioned  by  the  same  bard.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  he  was  seventy -two  when  he  met  Rowland 
Vaughan  in  his  wanderings  : 

"  Triniodd  y  byd  tra  anwir, 
Trwy  iawn  hap  i  oedran  hir  ; 
Mewn  glan  fuchedd  rinweddawl 
Hyd  ei  fedd,  wr  hynod  fawl." 

He  left  behind  him  a  few  poems  and  carols  written  in  the 
free  metres,  and  two  marwnadau  composed  to  the  same  noble- 
man, Gruffudd  Fychan,  of  Caer  Gai,  which  appeared  in  the  pages 

iy  Brython,  1861,  p,  146. 

258 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

of  Y  Brython.  A  few  of  bis  engfymon  are  also  published  in  the 
Great.  William  Phylip  died  in  1669,  and  was  buried  at  Llan- 
ddwywe,  where  the  following  inscription  is  found  on  his 
tombstone  :  "  W.  Ph.  1669,  F.  E.  X.  I." 

As  an  example  of  William  Phylip's  skill  in  writing  cywyddau^ 
the  following  lines  may  be  quoted  from  his  second  Manvnad  to 
Gruffudd  Fychan.  It  takes  the  favourite  form  of  a  dialogue 
between  the  bard  and  the  dead  nobleman.  The  conception  is 
that  he  sees  him  in  a  dream  and  holds  converse  with  him  : 

"  A  thrwy  hun  ddirgel  helynt, 
Gwelwn  wr  a  garwn  gynt. 


O  ba  wlad  attaliad  tost  ? 

Am  hawl  byw  ym  mha  le  buost  ? 

Ai  i  wel'd  byd  i  wlad  bawl  ! 
Ar  glau  bwyll  a'r  glob  hollawl  ? 
Aros  Gruffudd,  llywydd  llu, 
Arcs  in  ymresymu. 

Och  aeth  yn  brudd,  yn  iach  it, 
Y  dynion  glan  adwaenit ; 
Byw  o'th  iaith  di  byth  a'th  dal, 
Y  dyn  od  dianwadal. 

Nadd  gyfanedd  gu  fwyniaith,^ 

Ai  tewi'r  wyt  a'r  tair  iaith  ? 

Lie  bu'r  iaith  mewn  iawn-lhvybr  wedd, 

Odid  air  wedi  d'orwedd  ; 

Na  gwas  dewr,  nagystori, 

Hynaws  deg  os  hunaist  di ; 

Na  hely  hydd  yn  ol  hyn, 

O  goed  ir  nac  aderyn  ; 

Na  gwiw  haelder,  na  gildio, 

Os  y  dyn  glan  sy  dan  glo. 

Nac  iawn  bwyll,  nac  awen  her, 

Cyfundeb  pob  cu  fwynder. 

Y  maes  hir  mewn  mesurau, 

Mwyn  don  lie  buom  ein  dau  ", 

Ni  rodiaf,  mae'n  oer  wedi, 

Yn  d'ol  fyth  nad  wylaf  fi." 

And  into  the  mouth  of  his  dead  patron  he  places  the  following 

words  : 

"  Pan  rano  Duw  ben'r  einioes, 
Meichiau  na  dyddiau  nid  ocs. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Pwy  ni  roe  fyd  pen  awr  fach 
Os  cai  deyrnas  gadarnach. 
Ni  wyr  pen  na  pherchen  ffydd, 
Llawned  ydyw'n  llawenydd. 
Byd  didrist  bywyd  didranc, 
Heb  na  thro  buan  na  thranc. 
Hwyr  anial  a  hir  enyd, 
Y  rhown  fo  am  yr  hen  fyd. 
Ni  ddof  i'r  byd  enbydwan, 
Dowch  chwi  lie  'rwyf  fi'n  y  fan. 


Can  di  i  Dduw,  cwyn  dy  ddiwedd, 
Cyn  dy  fyn'd  a'r  cnawd  i  fedd. 

Yn  iach,  byw'r  wyf  mewn  uwch  braint, 
Uwch  gweryd,  yn  iach  geraint, 
Nes  y  del  heb  naws  dolur, 
Feirwon  a  byw  i'r  farn  bur."  ' 

William  Phylip  also  composed  a  Manvnad  to  Huw  Lhvyd,  of 
Cynfal,  in  which  the  opening  stanza  reads : 

"  Och  gau  ar  gampau  !  och  gwympo — IIuw  Llwyd 

A  llawer  sy'n  cwyno  ; 
Yn  Maentwrog  mae'n  tario 
Awen  fel  mewn  grafel  gro." 

One  of  his  finest  poems  is  his  "  Cywydd  y  Bedd,"  which  was 
printed  by  Senex  in  the  pages  of  Y  Brython?  It  is  a  master- 
piece of  cynghanedd,  and  contains  some  very  pensive  reflections  on 
a  subject  which  so  frequently  formed  a  theme  for  the  bards,  and 
ends  on  a  note  of  unswerving  faith  in  the  resurrection  : 
"  Wrth  ystyried  yr  ystori, 

Y  byd  oil  a'm  bywyd  i  ; 

A'r  lie  'rwy,  deall  oer  ym 

Oerllyd  waith,  o'r  lie  daethym, 

A'r  lle'r  af  i'r  llawr  afiach, 

Wedi'r  byd,  enyd  awr  bach, 

Wrth  ddeall  araith  ddiwad, 

Einioes  dyn  sy  wan  ei  stad  ; 

Nid  fi  fy  hun  yn  unig, 

Yn  y  byd  hwn  enbyd  dig  ; 

Pan  fo'r  corff  poenfawr  i  caid, 

Yn  ymwahar.u  a'm  henaid  ; 

Er  dy  gyfion  ddaioni 

Er  dy  fawl  pura  Dduw  fi  ; 

Fel  ynol  fywiol  fywyd, 

Yr  elwyf  fi  i'r  ail  fyd. 


1Y Brythott,  i86r.  pp.  285-6.     The  first  Cywydd  Marwnad  to  Gruffudd 
Fychan  will  be  found  in  the  same  volume,  p.  147.    'ibid,  p,  185. 

860 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

Nid  yw  einioes  hyd  unawr, 
I'r  un  ond  mynydun  awr  ; 
Nid  wrth  bryd  naturiaeth  bron, 
Yr  estynir  oes  dynion  ; 
Dwst  yw'r  corff  di  ystyr  caid 
Da  rinwedd  Du\v  i'r  enaid  ; 
Fy  enaid  eift  i  fynu, 
Y  cnawd  y  pryfed  a'i  cnu  ; 
Ni  wyr  pwyll  synwyr  y  pen, 
Angau  ola  i  dynghedfen. 


Dydd  Brawd  fe  ddaw  i  gwawrddydd, 
O'r  byd  tranc  i'r  bywyd  ihydd 
Amlach  wrthyt  yr  ymlyn, 
Na  chan  tant,  ochenaid  dyn, 
Amlach  braw  na  dyn  llawen 
Amlach  gwedd  afiach  na  gwen  ; 
Dan  dy  farn  y  rhaid  y'n.fbd, 
Dan  gwsg  a  Duw  yn  gysgod, 
Oni  'n  codo  Ion  cadarn, 
O'r  ddaear  fyddar  i'r  farn  : 
Ni  bydd  y  corff  i'r  bedd  cu, 
Yn  him  ddim  hwy  na  hynny. 

Gobaith  hoff  iawnwaith  a'ffydd, 
A  chaiiad  yw'r  tair  chwiorydd  ; 
A  Christ  o'i  fodd  fu'n  dioddef, 
Digon  yw  fe  a'm  dwg  i'w  nef, 
Pan  ddel  pen  fy  llawenfyd, 
Fy  nghorff  a'm  henaid  ynghyd  ; 
Hoff  iawn  fy w  a  chorff  newydd 
Ysbrydol  ailfydol  a  fydd." 

Five  poems  of  William  Phylip's  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Blodeugerdd. 

Sion  Phylip  (1543-1620)  was  the  bardd  teulu  of  Nannau 
and  Cors-y-gedol,  and  defended  his  bardic  rights  in  these  ancient 
seats  of  Welsh  noble  families  against  all  comers.  He  was  very 
jealous  of  interlopers,  even  of  his  own  brother,  whose  trespass  on 
his  preserves  he  refers  to  as  "  anllad  ifanc  lied  ofer."  The 
cyivydd  in  which  he  reproves  Richard  Phylip  for  daring  to  clera  at 
Nannau,  contains  some  of  his  best  known  lines  : 

"  Nis  cae  fylh  yn  i  wisg  fo, 
Gywyr  ordor  yn  gyfyrdro  ; 
Ni  chae  hefyd  o  chofir, 
Ond  yn  glmvn  dyna  goel  wir ; 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Ni  bu  nid  oes  am  oes  mawl, 
Ac  ni  bydd  yn  wybyddawl. 


Nid  a  f  awen  o'i  henyth, 
Naga'n  bell  i  ganu  byth. 

Ymdaro  lie  gweuo  gan, 
A  mi  henfardd  o'm  hunfan, 
Ifanc  ifanc  a  ofyn, 
Henaint  at  henaint  y  tyn  ; 
Gyra  fo  o'i  gaer  a'i  fainc, 
Grafil  !  at  y  gwyr  ifainc."1 

In  this  poem  he  mentions  that  the  lady  of  Nannau  was  the 
daughter  of  the  Lord  Rhys  of  Cors-y-gedol,  and  his  own  long 
connection  with  that  family  is  also  stated  : 

"  Bardd  i'w  thad  breuddoeth  a  wn, 
Bord  rydd  a'i  brodyr  oeddwn." 

Sion  Phylip  was  a  disgybl  pencerdd  of  Caerwys  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty -five.  The  englyn  which  he  composed  at  that 
Eisteddfod  is  on  record.  Its  subject  was  Yr  Eos,  and  the  bard 
sang  as  follows  : 

"  Eiliad  mawl  ganiad  mil  gwenyn, — unllef 

Ag  arianllais  telyn, 
Eirian  gloch  ar  enau  glyn 
Is  coedallt,  Eos  Cedwyn." 

When  quite  young  he  had  a  bardic  contest  with  Sion  Tudur. 
It  would  seem  that  Sion  Phylip  had  been  invited  to  spend  a 
holiday  with  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and  Sion  Tudur,  who 
regarded  himself  as  a  kind  of  bardd  teulu  to  the  Welsh  bishops, 
resented  the  intrusion,  and  after  the  manner  of  the  older  bards 
he  despatched  a  llatai  (messenger)  in  the  form  of  a  magpie  with 
a  message  to  him,  directing  him  to  return  with  all  speed  to 
Ardudwy.  Concluding  that  the  message  was  the  outcome  of 
jealousy,  it  was  accepted  at  once  as  a  casus  belli,  and  led  to  a 
contest  in  verse  between  the  two  bards.  Sion  Tudur  described 
his  opponent  as  losing  his  way  in  a  snow-drift  in  the  mountains 
on  his  return  journey  from  St.  Asaph,  the  implication  being  that 
the  episcopal  hospitality  had  proved  too  much  for  him,  and — 

"  Gwedi  y  Sul  fe  gaed  Sion 

Yn  rhwyfaw  yn  rhyw  afon." 
1  Y  Brython,  iv.,  p.  390. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

But  Sion  Phylip  would  not  he   hurried  by  these  wiles   from  the 
festive  board  of  his  kindly  patron  : 

"  Fy  argl \vydd  rhoes  im  groeso, 
I'r  wledd  fawr  ailwyodd  fo  ; 
Tariwyf  tra  mynwyf  tremwaith, 
Delwyf — pan  ddelwyf  eiiwaith." 

And  he  charges  his  brother  bard  with  being  a  dog  in  the  manger : 

"  Nis  bvvyti  us  pelai  wall 
Ci  dewr — nis  gedyarall." 

One  of  Sion  Phylip's  early  efforts  was  Cywydd  yr    IVylan, 
which  he  composed  in  1565.     He  describes  the  bird  thus  : 

"  Mcrch  fedydd  ddedwydd  ydwyd 
Is  lawn  i  Ncplunus  Iwyd. 


A  fu  'rioed  ar  for  iach, 

Nofyddes  wen  ufuddach." 

He  sends  the  seagull  to  explain  to  his  lover  why  lie  had  failed  to 
keep  an  appointment  with  her,  for  he  had  been  overtaken  by  a 
tempest  which  prevented  him  crossing  the  river  at  Barmouth  : 

"  Nofia  nag  anghofia  'nghwyn, 
I  gyfeirio  y  gu  forwyn  ; 
Hed  i'r  Ian  hydr  oleuni 
A  dywed  lie  y'm  dalied  i, 
Wrth  aber  nid  tyner  ton 
Bermo  adwyth  byim  oerdon." 

Sion  Phylip  was  very  popular  with  the  bards  of  his  day,  as 
the  numerous  mancnadau  composed  to  him  testify,  for  no  less 
than  five  bards  paid  him  this  tribute,  viz.,  Edmund  Prys,  Richard 
Cynwal,  Gruffydd  Phylip  (his  own  son),  leuan  Ehvyd,  and 
Gruffydd  Hafren.  The  date  of  his  death  is  often  given  as  1600, 
but  this  is  incorrect.  Edmund  Prys  in  his  Cyicydd  Marwnad 
definitely  states  that  he  died  in  1620.  That  he  was  a  bard  of 
some  excellence  is  very  apparent  from  the  praise  bestowed  upon 
him  by  Edmund  Prys,  who  was,  as  a  rule,  more  lavish  in  criticism 
than  encomium.  He  states  that  Sion  Phylip's  bardic  teachers 
were  Gruffydd  Hiraethog  and  William  Eleyn,  and  that  he  did 
both  these  bards  credit.  Prys'  lines  on  this  subject  are  as 
follows  : 

"  Y  dull  hwn,  nid  twyil  aiiiuudil, 
Doellia'n  fyv\  i  daeih  yn  kudd  } 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Dnvy  awenydd  hydr  anach, 
A  thrwy  nerth  athrawon  iach  : 
Gruffydd,  gref  ffydd,  orthgraph  wych, 
Gwrddrym  Hiraethog  eurddrych  ; 
Mawl  a  eiliai  mal  Wiliarn 
Lleyn  gynt,  heb  bennill  yn  gam  ; 
Y  rhai'n  oedd  yr  henyddion, 
O  dasg  serch  yn  dysgu  Sion."  ' 

Edmund  Prys  also  states  that  Sion  Phylip  once  acted  as 
arbiter  between  him  and  t'>vo  others,  William  Cynvval  and  Hugh 
Machno : 

"  Bu  farmvr  rhof,  bygof  hawl, 
A  dau  eraill  awdurawl." 

It  is  also  from  the  Archdeacon's  poem  that  we  have  confirmatory 
evidence  of  Sion  Phy lip's  connection  as  bardd  teulu  with  Cors-y- 
gedol : 

"  Cwrsiwr  mydr,  croyw  asiwr  tnawl, 

Cyrsio  gwawd  Corsygedawl ; 

Caer  ysgwar,  Cors  a  gerym, 

Cedol,  waredoi  wiw  rym  ; 

Ac  yno  di  gyffro  dig, 

Y  bu'n  dal  bob  Nauolig  ; 

Llensvai'r  llys,  llawenhai'r  lie, 

Llawn  oedd  awen  Llanddwyive." 

From  the  same  source  is  derived  the  information  that  our  bard 
was  skilled  in  three  languages,  an  excellent  herbalist  and  geologist, 
and  possessed  of  a  most  retentive  memory ; 

"  Deallai  fo  diwall  fawl, 
Deiriaith  yn  brif  awdurawl  ; 
Adwaenai  ddawn  da  'n  ei  ddydd, 
Les  am  oes,  lysiavi  meusydd  ; 
Yr  un  wcdd  am  rinwedilau 
Y  Hiaeu  gwyrth,  beb  ddim  yn  gau. 

A  cho  Sion  i'vv  awchus  vvaith, 
Ail  i  Seirws  Iwys  araith. 


Ni  'dwaeneui  gem  ddi  gymmell, 
Awuur  gwawd  Gofiadur  gwell." 

Richard    Cynwal    also    refers    to   his   proficiency   in   three 
languages  and  his  knowledge  of  herbs  and  rocks  : 

"  Llysiau  a  main  er  lies  mawr." 
1Y  Brython,  iv.,  p.  142  : 

"  Dau  wyihgant,  bwriad  iaitbgoeth 

A  dau  ddcg,  oed  Mab  Duw  ddoeth,'1 
204 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

He  also  mentions  his  long  friendship  of  thirty -five  years  with 

him  : 

"  Deuddeg  mlynedd,  fuchedd  fawr, 
Ar  hugain,  a  thair  rhagawr  ; 
Buddiais  ar  gydn.ibyddiaeth, 
Rhof  ag  ef,  mewn  rhyfig  aeth." 

This  bard  also  tells  us  that  Sion  Phylip  was  a  good  Latinist,  that 
being  probably  the  third  language  which  he  is  said  to  have  known. 
He  refers  to  Pwllheli  as  the  place  of  his  death,  1620  as  the  year, 
and  Llandanwg  as  his  place  of  burial : 

"  Yin  Mhwll  Heli  ymhell  wylwn, 
Heb  ddydd  hwy  bu  ddiwedd  hwn  ; 
Aed  a'i  gorph  caredig  iawn, 
Wedi  i  farw  i  wlad  Feiri.ivvn  ; 
Oed  lesu,  lie  'i  dewiswyd, 
Dwyn  glain  i  Landanwg  Iwyd, 
Ugain  doethgain  dau  wythgant, 
Draw  gwae  blaid  ei  wraig  a'i  blant." 

In  Gruffydd  Phylip's  elegy  to  his  father  he  confesses  himself 
a  prodigal  son,  who  had  paid  no  heed  to  his  father's  remon- 
strances : 

"  I  ddammeg  oedd  dda  imi, 
Astrus  ym  na  ystyriais  hi. 


Fy  ienctyd  o'm  mebyd  maith, 
A  fwriais  mewn  oferwaith  ; 
A'm  hamser  hoff  hyder  ffol, 
Drwy  rwysg  oedd  dorri'r  ysgol  ; 
Gwario  Na,  mewn  gvvirion  wedd, 
Gwario  foes  mewn  gwir  faswedd." 

His  tenderness  for   his  father  and  the  depth  of  his  penitence  and 
contrition  are  well  expressed  in  the  same  elegy  : 

"  Os  adref  d6f  mewn  c6f  caeth, 
Troi  'nol  at  yr  un  alaeth, 
A  gweled  wrth  i  gilydd, 
I  Lyfrau,  gwae  finau  fydd  ; 
Ni  ad  hiraeth  naturiol, 
Ym  drini  waith,  mwydro'n  61  ; 
Os  darllain  y  rhai'n  ar  hyd, 
Wylo  wnaf  o  lawn  ofyd." 

Gruffydd  Phylip  follows  up  this  cywydd  with  an  englyn  to  the 
sailors  who  rowed  his  father's  body  across  the  bay  from  Pwllheli 
to  Llandanwg ; 

265 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  O  fwynion  ddynion,  bob  yn  ddau — cyfarwydd 

Cyfeiriwch  y  rhwyfau, 
Tynnwch  ar  draws  y  tonnau, 
A'r  bardd  trist  yn  i  gist  gau." 

Gruffydd  Phylip  also  wrote  Dirifau'r  Coler  Du,  found  in  pages 
374-5  of  the  Blodeugerdd. 

In  leuan  Llwyd's  marwnad  to  Sion  Phylip  more  details  of 
the  bard's  life  are  described.  He  states  his  exact  age,  seventy- 
seven,  that  his  widow  with  a  family  of  six  children  survived  him, 
and  that  he  was  the  bardic  instructor  of  his  brother,  Richard,1  and 
of  Gruffydd  Phylip : 

"  Dysgodd  brydyddion  dwysgerdd, 
Dysgyblion  y  gysson  gerdd  ; 
Brawd  a  mab  i  brydu  mawl 
I  iawn  addysg  awenyddawl." 

From  this  elegy  it  would  seem  that  Sion  Phylip  had  gone  on  a 
bardic  journey  through  Anglesey  and  Lleyn ;  and  that  he  met 
his  death  by  drowning  : 

"  Myned  i  ddeutu  Menai 
A  chlod  deg  uchelwaed  Dai ; 


A'i  groeso  mawr  gwrs  ym  Man, 
A'i  glod  helaeth,  gwlad  haelion  ; 
Dyfod  trwy  Leyn,  gresyn  gri 
O  ball  hwyl  i  Bwllheli  ; 
Ag  ar  ol  Sion,  mowrson  mau, 
Daith  yngwrth  i  doeth  angaa. 

Dauwythgant  lor  pob  coron, 
Dau  ddeg  siwr  Duw  a  ddyg  Sion, 
Ymadael  uchel  achwyn 
E  ddaeth  pedwar  mab  i'w  ddwyn, 
A  chynnull  mwy  na  channyn 
O  wyr  uchod  Llewod  Lleyn, 
Dygwyd  hwn  deg  waed  henwr, 
O  Leyn  deg  i  Ian  y  dvvr, 
Dros  y  dwr,  ar  draws  y  don, 
Doe'r  morwyr  i  Dir  Meirion," 

Gruffydd  Hafren's  manvnad  confines  itself  to  the  praise  of 

'Richard  Phylip  acknowledges  this  in  the  following  couplet  ; 
Fy  mrawd  yn  fy  mwrw  ydoedd, 
Fathro  dig  yn  Pathrod  oedd. 


266 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

his  learning  and  his  talents  as  a  bard,  and  admits  that  he  had 
vanquished  him  in  controversy  : 

"  A  Sion  yr  ymrysonwn, 
Ar  Gerdd,  ym  difrio  gwn  ; 
Fy  mai  oedd  fwy  mwy  addef, 
Yn  fwy  o  wyth,  na'i  fai  ef ; 
Ymhell  ar  fy  machellion, 
I'm  cwympodd,  a  safodd  Sion" 

But,  perhaps,  the  well  known  lines  of  Edmund  Prys  best  sum  up 
his  capacity  as  a  bard  : 

"  Yn  ifangc  gwnai  gerdd  nwyfus, 
Yn  naddu'r  iaith  yn  ddi  rus  J 
Yn  hen  dda  awen  ddiell, 
Canai  i  Dduw,  can  oedd  well ; 
Canai  i  wyr  Arfon  wrawl, 
Canai  i  feirch,  ac  i'r  cwn  fawl  ;• 
Awdurol  fardd,  wawd  eirian, 
Awdur  mawl  i'r  adar  man." 

And  the  testimony  of  Richard  Cynwal  in  respect  of  his  poems  to 
love  and  nature  has  been  given  with  such  felicity  that  the  lines 
are  most  worthy  of  quotation  : 

"  Yn  oedran  cwynfan  ceinferch  ; 
Prydai  fawl  parod  i  ferch  ; 
I'w  gwedd,  a'i  gwallt,  gwddw  gwyn, 
E  ganodd  fel  mel  gwenyn  ; 
A  meusydd  adar  miwsig, 
O  ddol  a  bryn,  ddail  a  brig  ; 
A  meirch,  a  gweilch  mawrwych  gwar, 
A  gwiw  filgwn  gafaelgar  ; 
Moli  gwyr  mawr  a  gwarant, 
Eiliwr  cerdd  i  lawer  cant." 

The  following  englyn  was  composed  by  Hugh  Llwyd,  of  Cynfal, 
to  his  memory  : 

"  Dyma  fedd  gwrda  oedd  gu — Sion  Phylip, 

Sein  a  philer  Cymru  ; 
Cwynwn  fyn'd  athro  canu, 
I  garchar  y  ddaear  ddu." 

His  son,  Gruffydd  Phylip,  as  will  be  seen  from  quotations 
already  made,  was  a  bard  of  no  mean  order.  He  wrote  some 
excellent  lines,  which  form  an  interesting  summary  of  the  work 
of  Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd  : 

"  Mam,  a  Thad,  Mammaeth  ydych, 
I'r  Gyrmaeg  wir  Gymro  gwych  ; 
Perffeithiaist  nithiaist  yn  well, 
Y  Beibl  oil  i'r  bobl  well-well ; 

267 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Yn  oes  dyn  trefnaist  yna, 
Y  ilyfrau  gweddiau'n  dda  ; 
Ni  phrisiaist  enw  hoff  rasawl, 
Na  phoen  na  chost  ffeinwych  hawl, 
Brau  y  costiaist  Sion  ffynnon  ffydd, 
Braint  da  i  ni  brint  o  newydd  ; 
Hyn  oedd  ynn  yn  ddaioni, 
I  reidiau  'n  eneidiau  ni."1 

Perhaps  one  of  the  best  known  poems  of  Gruffydd  Philip  was 
that  composed  in  1618,  and  entitled:  "Cywydd  Marwnad  Mr. 
Rhisiart  Hughes,  o  Gefn  Llanfair  "  : 

"  Oes  cur,  am  nas  ceir  yma 
Ystyn  dydd  ar  oes  dyn  da  ! 
Angau  rhed  o  ing  oer  hawl, 
Yn  nhop  gwr  anhepgorawl ; 


Gwas  gwych  oedd  o  rwysg  uchod, 
Nid  oedd  falch  un  dydd  o'i  fod 
Trvvy  Lundain  at  hir  lendyd, 
Tref  lie  'i  bydd  tyrfa  llu  byd. 


Pasio  pawb,  hapusa'  pen, 
I  bu  ei  rowiog  ber  awen. 

Dau  wythgant  gwarant  gwirier, 
A  dau  naw  oed  Mab  Duw  Ner." 

His  uncle,  Richard  Phylip,  who  had  tried  to  ingratiate 
himself  at  Nannau  in  Sion  Phylip's  absence,  which  led  to  a  war 
of  words  between  the  brothers,  wrote  a  Cywydd  Ateb  in  reply  to 
the  severe  castigation  he  had  received  at  Sion  Phylip's  hands. 
The  lines  appear  in  Y Brython,  iv.,  pages  391-2,  and  show  that 
Richard  in  common  with  his  two  brothers,  and  his  nephew 
Gruffydd,  had  considerable  skill  in  "  building  up  the  rhyme."  He 
refers  to  his  brother's  jealousy  as  a  very  early  sin,  and  reminds 
him  of  its  results  in  the  case  of  Cain  and  Abel : 
"  Y  genfigen  gwan  fagiad, 

Oedd  o  hen  Adda  a'i  had  ; 

A  yrrodd  Gain  oerddig  waith, 

I  ladd  Abel  dda  ei  obaith  : 

Felly  gwnae'r  ddig  gynfigen, 

Ferch  y  Sarph  arw  frochus  hen  ; 

Gyru  brodyr  gair  bradawl, 

I  ymgashau  ddirmygus  hawl  ; 

Ow  !  mor  dynn  yw  fy  mrawd  innau, 

Am  i  wr  hael  fy  mawrhau." 
1  Y  Brython^  iv.,  p.  158. 
268 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

He  explains  his  conduct  on  the  ground  of  his  friendship  with 
Huw  Nannau  from  boyhood,  and  adopts  a  somewhat  defiant 
attitude  towards  his  elder  brother  : 

"Tariwyf  a  gwaewyf  y  gan, 

Tra  fynwyf  traethaf  anian  : 

Gogyfar  seigiau  gwiwfael, 

A  gair  a  Huw  ysgwier  hael. 

Sion  a  droes  yn  ei  dresi, 
Phylip  fardd  ffel  beia  fi  ; 
Am  arcs  yn  fy  mawredd, 
Nannau  lys  o  lawn  iawn  wledd. 


Er  da  gwar  y  deau  i  gyd, 
O  Nannau  nid  awn  ennyd. 

Esgus  na  fedrwn  wisgo 

Wisg  Huw  fyth  am  nas  cae  fo." 

He  argues  that  in  Nannau  there  is  a  sufficiency  for  both,  but 
insinuates  that  Sion  Phylip  could  do  more  than  his  share  with  the 
flowing  bowl : 

"  Pa  raid  arbed  lawned  wledd, 
Bir  Nannau  ebron  winedd  ? 
Un  wyf  fi  a  yn  fuan, 
Ond  da'r  yf  yntau  ei  ran, 
Bwngler  tabler  disberod, 
Ydwyf  fi  ni  wadai  fod  : 
Tynu  yn  wir  at  hon  a  wna, 
Mae'r  tyn  fal  y  mrawd  hyna. 


Fe  fynnai  Sion  fy  anos  i 
O  lannerch  yr  haelioni ; 


Er  ei  ddrygair  ddarogan, 

A'i  athrod  goedd  uthraid  gan, 

Af  i  Naunau  fan  enwawg, 

Ni  wna'rhynt  o  Nannau  rhawg." 

Hugh  Machno  was  a  bard  who  wrote  of  the  Cynfal  family, 
the  antecedents  of  Morgan  Lhvyd.  In  1623  he  penned  an  elegy 
to  Dafydd  Llwyd  o  Gynfal,  the  grandfather  of  Morgan  Llwyd,  in 
which  he  thus  expresses  the  grief  of  Maentwrog  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood : 

"  Trees  Duw  alar  trist  wylen 
Troe  gur  i  Faentwrog  wen 
Mae  yno  gyffro  a  gant 
Am  yr  henwyr  rnai  ar  hunant." 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

He  goes  on  to  relate  that  Hugh  Llwyd,  the  third  son  of  Dafydd 
Llwyd,  and  afterwards  a  bard  of  some  note,  succeeded  his  father 
at  Cynfal,  in  1623  : 

"  Y  trydydd  o  freisgwydd  frig 
Yw  Huw  Llwyd  ddi-balledig 
Yn  aer  i  dad  yw  ado 
Yn  ol  fydd  yn  i  le  fo. 

Dau  wythgant  oerant  irwydd 
Dau  wyth  a  saith  adwy  sydd." 

Like  other  gentlemen  of  the  period,  Dafydd  Llwyd  had  been 
devoted  to  horsemanship,  shooting,  and  hunting  : 
"  Caru  i  farch  cu  eirian 
Seuthyddiaeth  helwriaeth  Ian." 

And  he  had  often  acted  as  arbitrator  and  reconciler  of  his  neigh- 
bours' differences  : 

"  Dyddiai  fo  gordiai  y  gwyr  gynt 
Dyddivvr  oedd  enaid  uddynt." 

Dafydd  Llwyd  is  further  described  as  a  man  of  few  words  and 
much  deliberation ;  and  to  have  had  considerable  knowledge  of 
poetry  and  figures : 

"  Distaw  iawn  wr  uniawn  wraidd 
Ag  araf  fu  a  gwraidd 

Ymhob  pur  wawd  ymhob  rhif 
Da  i  awgrym  a  digrif 
Adroddai  medrai  air  tnwys 
Yn  i  gymal  yn  gymwys." ' 

Huw  Machno  also  wrote,  about  1630,  "  Cywydd  i  ofyn  telyn 
dros  Huw  Llwyd,  Cynfal"  in  which  he  refers  to  the  latter's 
travels.  Huw  Llwyd  had  taken  part  in  the  Dutch  wars  to  help 
Holland  to  free  itself  from  the  trammels  of  Spain.  In  the  same 
poem  the  bard  refers  to  the  renovation  of  Cynfal,  undertaken  by 
Huw  Llwyd  on  his  return.  He  gives  in  it  a  homely  description 
of  the  house,  which  afterwards  acquired  greater  fame  from  its 
association  with  Morgan  Llwyd,  the  most  eminent  Welsh  puritan 
of  this  century.  He  mentions  in  his  portrait  of  this  old  Welsh 
home  all  those  appliances  which  a  gentleman  of  the  period  would 
require  for  hunting,  shooting,  and  fishing.  The  poem  is  given  in 

1  Gwcithiau  Morgan  Llwyd,  pp.  305-308, 
270 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

full  in  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies'  Gweithiau  Morgan  Llwyd,  and  is  of 
much  interest  because  it  furnishes  the  background  for  the  life  of 
that  worthy.  The  following  lines  describe  Huw  Llwyd  and  the 
part  he  took  in  restoring  his  ancestral  home  : 

"  Huw  Llwyd  yw  pob  rhai  lie  i  del, 
A  genfydd  aer  o  Gynfel. 
Trafaelio  trwy  ofalon 
i  bu'n  i  ddydd,  dedwydd  don, 

0  gwelodd  teg  fu'r  bregeth, 
yn  i  ifiengtyd  or  byd  beth  ? 
da  oedd  yn  y  diweddiad, 
dirion  le,  dario'n  y  wlad 
Trwsio,  ffwrneisio  a  wnai 

01  ddyfais,  i  dy  yn  ddifai 
ai  ranu  yn  gowreinach, 

a  throi'r  dwr  drwy  barlwr  bach. 

Os  dyfod  i'w  ystafell, 

(hon  sy  waith  hardd  yn  saith  well) 

i  lyfrau  ar  silffau  sydd, 

deg  olwg,  gida'i  gilydd, 

i  flychau'n  eliau'n  Ian, 

ai  ger  feddyg  o  arian, 

ai  fwcled  glan  ar  wanas, 

ai  gledd  pur  o'r  gloew-ddur  glas, 

ai  fwa  yw,  ni  fu  i  well, 

ai  gu  saethau,  ai  gawell, 

ai  wnn  hwylus  yn  bylaw, 

ai  fflasg,  hawdd  i  caiff  i'w  law, 

ai  ffon  enwair  ffein  iovrn-wych, 

ai  ffein  gorn,  at  helffyn  gwych, 

ai  rwydau,  pan  Pai'r  adeg, 

sy  gae  tyn  i  bysgod  teg, 

ai  ddrych  oedd  wych  o  ddichell, 

a  wyl  beth  oi  law  o  bell, 

ar  '  chess  '  ai  gwyr  ddifyr  ddysg, 

a  rhwydd  loyw  dabler  hyddysg, 

Beth  yw'r  holl  bethau  hyn 

mae  dialedd  am  delyn. 

Pa  bleser  rhag  trymder  trwch  ? 

i  ddyn,  pa  fwy  diddanwch.1 

Edward  Morus  (?— 1689),  of  Perthi  Llwydion,  in  the 
parish  of  Cerrig-y-drudion,  Denbighshire,  was  a  contemporary  and 
close  friend  of  the  great  bard  Huw  Morus,  and  there  has  been 
considerable  confusion  between  the  writings  of  the  one  and  the 
other,  which  is  pardonable  to  some  extent,  owing  to  the  similarity 

1  Gwcithiau  Morgan  LlwyJ,  pp.  xviii.,  xix. 

271 


in  their  themes  and  style  of  expression.  There  are  eleven  of 
Edward  Morus'  compositions  in  Carolau  a  Dyriau  Duwiol,  pub- 
lished in  1720,  and  ten  in  the  Blodeu-Gerdd  Cymru,  published  in 
1779.  Sir  Owen  Edwards  also  published  a  selection  of  his  poems 
in  Cyfres  y  Fil.  Part  of  this  bard's  work  has  been  collected  by 
his  admirer,  Hugh  Hughes,  of  Cerrig-y-drudion.  He  died  before 
he  completed  his  task,  but  what  he  had  collected  was  published 
by  Isaac  Foulkes,  Liverpool,  in  1902.  It  was  part  of  a  work 
adjudged  by  the  Rev.  J.  Fisher,  B.D.,  as  worthy  of  the  prize 
offered  for  the  best  history  of  three  noted  men  in  the  parish  of 
Cerrig-y-drudion,  by  the  annual  Eisteddfod  held  at  that  place  in 
1900. 

Edward  Morus  could  write  excellent  prose,  as  well  as  verse. 
In  Rowland's  Cambrian  Bibliography,  under  the  year  1689, 
appears  the  following  book  : 

"  Y  Rhybuddiwr  Gristnogawl^  &c.,  Rhydychen.  Cyfieith- 
wyd  y  llyfr  hwn  gan  Edward  Morus,  o'r  Perthi  Llwydion,  Ceryg 
y  Drudion,  yn  sir  Ddinbych,  ar  gais  Mrs.  Margaret  Fychan,  o 
Lwydiarth ;  ac  argraffwyd  ef  ar  draul  y  foneddiges  hbno."  The 
work  is  a  translation  of  Rowlet's  Christian  Monitor. 

Edward  Morus'  introduction  to  the  work  affords  a  good 
example  of  his  pregnant  style  in  prose.  It  reads  : 

Att  y  Cymro  uniaith.1 

Y  Bryttwn  natturiol ! 

Wele  fi'n  dyfod  yn  daer  ymbiliwr  attat  am  gael  un  rhodd 
gennit ;  y  peth  yr  wyf  yn  ei  erfyn  arnat  sydd  gymwynas,  nid  i  mi, 
eithr  i  ti  dy  hun  ;  sef,  J3od  yn  wiw  gennit  yn  ystyriol,  ac  yn  ddif- 
rifol  ddarllain  y  Llyfr  bychan  hwn  unwaith  drwyddo.  Er  nas 
gwnei  ar  fy  nymuniad  i,  fe  debygid  (os  oes  dim  gweddeidd-dra 
ynot)  mai  bychan  i  ti  wneuthur  hynny  o  ran  parch  a  diolchgarwch 
i'r  elusengar  Fenyw  a'th  anrhegodd  di  ag  e ;  gan  gyrchu  Sais  o 
Loegr  i'th  gynghori  yn  iaith  dy  fam ;  Ac  oni  ddichon  hyn  oil  dy 
annog,  etto  darllain  ef  er  rmvyn  dy  enaid  gwerthfawr  dy  hun,  ac  os 
gweithia  yr  athrawiaeth  gynwysedig  ynddo  ar  dy  galon  di,  megis 
1  Barddtniaeth  Edward  Morris,  p.  viii. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

ag  y  gwnaeth  ar  arall,  'r  wy'n  coelio  y  bydd  di-edifar  gennit  os 
cyfarfyddi  hefyd  ymma  4'r  cwbl  sydd  angenrhaid  i  ti  er  lechyd- 
wriaeth,  wedi  ei  grynhoi  yn  fyrrach  ac  yn  rhattach  nag  y  gwelaist 
o'r  blaen,  dyro  i  Dduw  y  gogoniant,  a  gad  i  ni  yn  ddioed  ac  yn 
ddianwadal  ymroi  yn  unfryd  (drwy  gynnorthwy  gras  Duw)  i  arwain 
Bucliedd  Sanctaidd  er  anrhraethol  ac  annherfynol  gyssur  i  ni. 
Bydd  iach.  Y  CY.MREIGYDD. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Yaughan,  who  defrayed  the  expenses  of 
printing  the  Rhybuddiwr,  was  the  sister  of  Lord  Herbert  of 
Cherbury,  himself  a  noted  patron  of  literature.  She  had  married 
John  Vaughan,  of  Lhvydiarth,  in  Llansilin. 

There  is  very  little  known  of  the  life -story  of  Edward  Morus. 
It  is  known  that  he  was  a  drover  and  cattle-dealer,  and  had  ex- 
tensive business  connections  in  this  respect  with  English  markets. 
He  died  on  one  of  his  journeys  into  the  Eastern  Counties  in  1689, 
and  was  buried  at  Fryerning,  near  Ingatstone,  in  Essex. 

Mr.  Hugh  Hughes,  who  has  been  mentioned  as  having  col- 
lected his  poems,  is  incorrect  in  surmising  that  our  bard  was  the 
Edward  Morus  whose  name  appears  in  the  following  entry  in  the 
parish  register  at  Cerrig-y-drudion  :  "Gwen,  the  daughter  of 
Edward  Morus,  of  Perthi  Llwydion,  was  baptized  the  26th  day  of 
January,  1620."  I  This  would  fix  the  bard's  birth  at  about  1600, 
and  would  show  him  at  89  still  engaged  in  active  business  transac- 
tions, as  far  afield  as  Essex.  Gwen  was  probably  his  sister,  and 
"  Edward  ap  Morris  .  .  .  baptized  the  ist  day  of  October, 
i6o7,"2  his  father.  Assuming  that  the  latter  married  about  the 
age  of  20,  Edward  Morus'  birth  probably  took  place  in  the  late 
twenties  or  early  thirties  of  this  century.  This  would  make  him 
about  60  at  the  time  of  his  death,  a  much  more  likely  age  for  a 
man  to  be  engaged  in  an  employment  demanding  such  activity 
as  that  of  a  drover  or  cattle-dealer. 

Huw   Morus   mourned   the   death  of  his  fellow -bard  in  a 
Cywydd  Marwnad^  which  throws  some  light  upon  his  life.     He 
1  Barddoniatth  Edward  Morris,  p.  xiv.     =  ibid,  p.  x. 

273 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

describes  him  as  marsr  awdivr,  a  reference,  perhaps,  not  so  much 
to  the  number  of  his  compositions  as  to  their  excellence. 

"  Marw  Edward,  mawr  awdwr, 
Moms  oedd  dymherus  \vr ; 
Llafurwr  lies  llyfrwr  lion, 
Lliwdeg  o'r  Perthi  Lliaydion 
Yn  ben  bardd,  ni  bu,  ni  bydd, 
Afiaeth  brwd,  y  fath  brydydd  ; 
Brwd  oedd  ei  ffrwd,  brydydd  ffraeth, 
Aber  ddeunydd  barddoniaeth." 

He  calls  him  the  heir  of  the  Muses  of  Helicon,  and  extols  the 
purity  of  his  diction  and  the  sweetness  of  his  odes : 

"  Per-air  wr,  puror  araith, 
Parod  o  rym,  purder  iaith. 


Bardd  od  ar  y  beirdd  ydoedd, 
BIysiais  ei  waith,  blasus  oedd. 

Athraw  gwir,  aeth  i'r  gweryd, 
A  wnai'r  gerdd  yn  aur  i  gyd.1 

Hwn  oedd  dad  cynghanedd  deg, 
Eos  doethder  ystwythdeg. 
Ni  ddae  bwnc  newydd  o'i  ben, 
Flys  hwylus,  heb  flas  halen  ; 
Am  eiriau  mel,  angel  oedd, 
Glain  Brydain  glan-ber  ydoedd  ; 
Gwastad  y  plethiad  i'n  plith, 
Gardd  win  oedd  ei  gerdd  wenith." 

After  comparing  him  with  Homer  and  Horace,  he  pays  tribute  to 
his  skill  in  awdl^  cywydd,  englyn  and  carol: 

"  Gorau  gweydd  awenydd  wych, 
Gweuai  awdl  yn  gaeadwych  ; 
Ei  gyivyddau.  gwiw  addysjj, 
Gwir  iawn  ddawn,  a  geir  yn  ddysg  ; 
Cardan  'n  rheolau  rhad, 
Cyfoethog  eu  cyfieithiad  ; 
Ei  englyntoti,  angel  annerch, 
Fyth  yw  swyn  afiaeth  a  serch." 

Perhaps  it  will  be  well  to  give  an  instance  of  Edward  Morus' 
skill  and  attainments  in  each  of  the  four  kinds  of  Welsh  verse 
mentioned  by  his  elegist.  Very  few  of  the  first  named  composi- 
tions have  found  their  way  into  print.  But  Sir  O.  M,  Edwards 

1  Eos  Ceiriog,  i.,  pp,  22-3. 
274 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

has  one  awdl  in  his  collection  of  Edward  Mortis'  poems.  It  is 
entitled  Eghvyswr  Mwyn,  and  is  an  elegy  on  the  death  of  Mr. 
Rees  Foulk,  parson  of  Llanfihangel  Glyn  Myfyr.  There  is 
nothing  particularly  striking  in  this  poem,  but  it  certainly  bears 
out  Huw  Mortis'  verdict  as  far  as  the  accuracy  of  its  metres  is 
concerned.  One  stanza,  the  gorchest  bdrdd,  is  beautiful  in  its 
conception,  and  contains,  perhaps,  the  best  lines  in  the  poem  : 
"  Fr  bedd  heb  wad, 

I'r  wledd  aur  wlad, 

I'r  hedd  a'r  had, 
Orau  rhodd  ; 

Ei  ddawn  oedd  union, 

A'i  goel  o'i  galon, 

Y  nef  gyfion 

lawn  a  gafodd.", 

His  proest  cyftmvidiog  in  the  same  poem  is  also  a  well -executed 
stanza : 

"  Ei  fawr  boen  ddi-ofer  beth, 

A  gwir  les  agorai  lith, 

Nid  oes  ail  figail  o'i  fath, 

A  thra  bo  dydd,  ni  bydd  byth."  ' 

In  Mr.  Hugh  Hughes'  collection,  Awdl  yr  Haidd  is  an 
amusing  poem  describing  the  different  uses  to  which  barley  is  put, 
and  advancing  arguments  for  each  use.  The  devotee  of  Bacchus 
demands  that  it  shall  be  used  exclusively  for  his  consumption, 
the  housewife  and  hwsmon  (farm  bailiff)  are  equally  certain  that 
it  should  be  used  for  nothing  but  bread.  The  bard  dubs  these 
extreme  advocates  wastrels  and  misers  respectively.  He  despairs 
of  reconciling  their  rival  claims,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
each  man  must  settle  this  problem  for  himself : 

"  Gwnaed  pawb  yn  ddiogan  ei  feddwl  a'i  amcan, 
Am  haidd  i  hunan,  mae'n  hawdd  iddo  hynny.:: 

It  is  a  poem  with  a  moral  which  he  sums  up  thus  : 
•'  Fe  fyn  pawb  ei  bleser,  fel  bo'n  blysio." 

Edward  Morus  wrote  several  cyivyddau.  The  first  in  the 
collection  of  his  work  recently  published  is  "Cywydd  i'r  Parchedig 
Dad,  William  drwy  Rad  Duw  Arglwydd  Esgob  Llanehvy."  This 
is  a  thanksgiving  ode  from  a  Welshman,  who  hailed  with  delight 
p.  106-7. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  appointment  of  one  he  believed  to  be  a  thoroughly  Welsh 
prelate,  Bishop  William  Lloyd,  to  the  See  of  St.  Asaph.  In  many 
of  his  poems  he  betrays  his  ardent  love  for  his  native  tongue, 
and  his  alertness  to  events  which  made  for  its  preservation,  or 
otherwise.  After  regretting  the  "  estroniaid  ystryw  anwir "  who 
had  held  that  bishopric,  he  welcomes  the  new  bishop  because  his 
advent  meant  succour  for  the  language  he  loved,  and  promotion 
for  those  who  spoke  it : 

"  Dan  ras  hwn  dyner  oes  hedd, 

Mi  ga  eilwaith  ymgeledd  ; 

Gwyr  am  car  llwyddgar  wellhant, 

Caen'  swyddau  canys  haeddant. 

I  dy  Asaph  dewiswyd, 
Da  actau'r  Hew,  Doctor  Llwyd, 
Cymreigydd  cu  mawrygwn, 
Rwysg  parch   yr  esgob  hwn." 

He  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  dignity  of  the  office  : 
"  Ach  neu  batch  ucha'n  y  byd, 
Aaron  fu  o'r  un  fy wyd ; 
A  doniau  perlau  purlan, 
Hynaws  glod  yn  ei  wisg  Ian  ; 
Y  Meitr  aur  niae  at  yr  iad, 
I'w  roi  ar  yr  eneiniad." 

The  advantage  of  his  knowledge  of  the  language  is  that  his 
lordship  will  be  understood,  and  brought  into  closer  contact  with 
his  people  in  their  highest  act  of  worship  : 

"  Pum  gair  yn  yr  eglwys  Iwys  Ian, 
Sydd  well  os  hwy  ddeallan  ; 
Na  myrddiwn  mewn  mawr  ddawn  iaith, 
O  doe  athro  dieithriaith. 


A'm  cymmun  glan,  can  fel  cynt, 
lawn  addysg  yn  Nuw  iddynt  ; 
Mewn  Brutaniaith  clodfaith  clau, 
Gael  enill  eu  calonau." 

Edward  Morus  also  wrote  excellent  verses  on  the  confinement  of 
the  seven  bishops  in  the  Tower : 

"  Saith  ffyddlon,  Cryfion  crefydd— Cywiriaid, 

Yn  caru  'u  Pen-llywydd  ; 
Duw'n  benach  na  dyn  baunydd, 
Seithwyr  amddiffynwyr  fifydd." 
276 


In  this  ode  he  compares  James  II.  to  Phaeton  seated  "  in  the 
chariot  of  presumption,"1  and  warns  him  that  his  fate  would  be 
similar.  He  begs  his  Majesty  to  change  his  course. 

The  lofty  moral  tone  of  some  of  his  poems  is  very  impressive. 
An  example  of  this  is  found  in  his  effort  to  entice  his  countrymen 
into  the  paths  of  sobriety.  His  ode  against  drunkenness,  entitled, 
Cywydd  yn  erbyn  Meddivdod  points  out  the  serious  physical  and 
mental  effects,  not  to  mention  the  moral  harm  wrought  through 
the  influence  of  excessive  drinking  : 

"  Pwy  a  ddengys  a'i  fis  fai 
Mwy  na  gwendid  inevvn  gwindai  ? 


Ac  yfed  frwd  gafod  frau, 
Dros  fesur,  diras  foesau  ; 
Cyfeillach  drwy  afiach  dro, 
A  fu'r  esgus  i  frwysgo  ; 
Pylu'n  hurt,  pa  wael  wanhau, 
Os  yn  hir,  y  synhwyrau. 
Pylu'r  cof  trwy  anghof  trwm, 
Bydd  rusol  boddi  rheswm  ; 
Dinistrio  corph  a'i  orphen, 
Dallu  pwyll  deall  y  pen. 

Fob  afiechyd,  clefyd,  clyw, 
Di  rin  wyd,  dy  ran  ydyw. 

Yn  iechyd  ni  wrthyd  neb, 
Ffiol  lawn  o  ffolineb ; 
Dan  dy  drwyn  gwenwyn  i  gyd, 
Yfi  achos  afiechyd. 

Delw  y  Tad,  dilewyd  hi, 
Gwarth  wyneb  a  gwrthuni. 

Drwg  i'r  corph,  drwy'r  cwrw  y  caid, 
Drwg  o  ran  drygu'r  enaid." 

His  cywyddau  marwnad  (elegies)  are  also  beautiful  compositions. 
A  good  example  is  that  composed  to  Hywel  Vaughan  o  Lan  y 
Llyn>  1669  : 


"  Am  wr  enwog  mae  newyn, 
Fwy  na  llu  ar  fin  y  Llyn." 

1  Eos  Ceiriog,  p.  386. 

277 


WALES  IN   THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

He  refers  to  the  bereaved  family  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  O  !  gwyn  rydost  gwn  redeg, 
I  clagrau'n  fotymau  teg  ; 
Duw  a  wrendy  fry  o'r  fron, 
Weddi  a  gvveiddi  gweddwon  ; 
Duw  achles  hoff  les  a  phlaid, 
Mae'n  ddyfnl  i  ymddifaid 
Bydd,  arglvvydd,  rhag  tramgwydd  trwch, 
Dad  iddyn',  er  dedwyddwch. 


Y  corph  aeth,  cu  araf  ffel, 
Gwr  downus  i  gor  Daniel  ; 
A'r  enaid  aeth  yr  un  dydd, 
Ail  einioes  i  lawenydd  ; 
Bendithion  ban  odiaethol, 
A  pharch  iawn  eiff  ar  eich  ol  ; 
Hyd  nefoedd  cyhoedd  y  caid, 
I  roi  annerch  i'r  enaid  ; 
Cyfodiad  at  rad  Duw  Tri, 
Llawn  einioes  Ha  wen  ini." 

His  calling  as  a  drover  influenced  some  of  his  similes,  e.g.  : 

"  Ni  alia  i  ddim  o'm  nerth  fy  hun, 

Ond  fel  y  mochyn,  eilwaith 
Ymdroi'n  y  dom  ;  Duw  cynnal  fi 
O  bob  drygioni  diffaith." 

His  delineation  of  animals  gives  the  impression  of  one  who 
thoroughly  understood  them.  It  is  not  strange  that  this  poetic 
drover  should  have  given  such  a  vivid  description  of  the  bull  in 
his  Cywydd  y  Tdriv.  The  following  is  an  instance  of  his  apt 
portraiture  : 

"  Crych  leisiwr  a  rhodiwr  rhydd 
Cryg  ym  min  craig  y  mynydd  ; 
Pur  feudwy  mewn  porfa-dir, 
Meillion,  gwellt  a  hydd-wellt  hir." 

Some  of  his  poems  are  fine  moral  essays,  for  instance,  that 
entitled  Ystyriaeth  ar  Fywoliaeth  Dyn.  Man's  frailty  has  been 
well  described  in  the  following  lines  : 

"  Mae'r  deall  o'r  untu,  a'r  c6f  wedi  llygru, 
A'r  cnawd  yn  ein  dallu,  a'n  denu  ni  i'n  dal  ; 
Mewn  amryw  gamwedclau,  anrhefnus  ein  rhwydau, 
Ein  serch  a'n  hanwydau'n  anwadal." 

And  faith  in  Christ  is  its  only  antidote.  Edward  Morus'  poem? 
278 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

are  permeated  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  his  robust  faith 
finds  expression  in  many  lines  : 

"  Ffydcl  gadarn  ddihoced,  yw'r  in::,'  ymwared, 
Yn  Nghrist  mae  ymddiried,  a  chadwed  iwch  hedd  ; 
O'r  Aiffl  os  llongwriwch,  ar  fwrdd  Edifeiiwch, 
I  Canaan  mordwywch  o'r  diwedd." 

He  was  an  advocate  of  early  marriages,  and  had  a  strong  dislike 
to  marriage  as  a  purely  civil  contract,  and  bluntly  condemned  the 
union  of  those  between  whom  there  was  great  disparity  of  years  : 
"  Deuddyn  ifanc  a  briodo, 

Diwall  heddwch,  Duw  a'u  llwyddo, 

Ac  na  chlywer  tiwy  ymddrysu 

Fylh  fynd  hen  at  hen  ond  hynny." 

Ill  one  of  his  poems  he  reflects  on  the  distinction  the  world 
makes  between  rich  and  poor  : 

"  Gwr,  perchen  cywaeth,  yn  ol  ci  fmvolae'.h, 
Fe  ddaw  i'w  gladdedigaeth,  yrr  hekieih  o  hyd  ; 
Y  llawd  pan  derfyno,  prin  cael  i'r  fan  hono 
Mor  digon  i'w  gario  fe  i'r  gweryd." 

Cyngor  bardd  fw  forwyn  is  full  of  wise  precepts  from  a 
master  to  his  maid,  and  advocates  contentment  and  probity  of 
life  as  the  keys  to  happiness  : 

"  Nid  wrth  a  gafodd  o  gyfoeth  yn  nglyn, 
Y  dylai  neb  fesur  dedwyddvvch  un  dyn  ; 
Boddlonrwydd  yw'r  golud  inewn  gwiwlan  ystad, 
Pwy  welodd  heb  ddigon  y  cyfion,  a'i  had?  " 

He  composed  numerous  Christmas  carols,  some  of  them  of  great 
beauty,  and  most  of  them  a  digest  of  the  main  facts  in  the  life  of 
Christ,  in  addition  to  a  vivid  representation  of  the  central  theme. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  bard's  practice  to  compose  one  for  each 
Christmas,  and  most  of  them  bear  the  date  of  their  composition 
within  their  contents. 

In  Hugh  Hughes'  collection  appear  carols  for  1656,  1660, 
1661,  1663,  1665,  1671,  1685,  and  1686.  They  deal  with  the 
subject  of  the  Nativity  with  the  greatest  reverence.  A  few  of 
them  lead  up  to  it  by  a  summary  of  the  promises  of  the  Messiah's 
advent  in  the  flesh,  and  afterwards  mention  the  mighty  works  ha 
performed  in  his  ministrations  to  mankind  : 

"  Ail  Bers.m  y  Drindud,  inab  Dafydd  trwy  ddyndod, 
Ac  Arghvydd  mewn  Duwdod,  tro  hynod  tiwy  hedd  ; 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Pregethwr  daionus  Efengyl  gysurus, 

I'r  rhai  edifarus,  da  fawredd. 

Dysgu'r  Athrawon,  a  galw  ei  Udisgyblion, 

Ei  wyrthiau  grasuslon  yn  fowrion  a  fu, 

Troi  Saul  yn  Paul  ddawnus,  troi'r  dwfr  yn  win  melus, 

Mae'n  hysbys  ei  ewyllys,  a'i  allu. 

lachau  pob  clefydon,  rhoi  parabl  i'r  mudion, 

Bywhau  y  rhai  meirwon,  y  gwirion  Oen  gwir, 

Khoi'r  cloffion  i  gerdded,  rhoi  deillion  i  weled, 

Byddatiaid  i  glywed,  yn  glauar." 

He  has  also  other  carols  on  secular  subjects,  and  in  this  lighter 
vein  he  has  the  very  happy  gift  of  blending  Nature  and  Love  in 
perfect  harmony  :  "  Carol  yn  gyrru'r  Haf  at  ei  Gariad,"  and 
"  Carol  Cupid  "  are  two  good  examples. 

Edward  Morus  was  also  a  facile  writer  of  englynion.  His 
readiness  in  composing  is  instanced  in  the  englyu  entitled  Y  Bardd 
a'r  Pladunvyr.  The  bard  was  passing  a  field,  where  they  were 
cutting  corn,  and  was  playfully  invited  to  wield  the  sickle,  but  he 
declined  owing  to  age  and  infirmity,  and  in  lieu  thereof  he  sang 
the  following  englyn : 

"  Canlyn  Pladur  ddur  ar  ddant — y  rhosdir 

Rhai  ysdwyth  a'i  medrant  ; 
Esmwythach  i  was  methiant, 
Englyn,  a  Thelyo,  a  Thant.'' 

His  englynion  composed  to  Bishop  Humphreys  when  the  latter 
was  raised  to  the  See  of  Bangor  are  well  known.  He  took  great 
pride  in  the  elevation  ef  Welshmen  to  the  episcopate  in  their  own 
country,  and  Bishop  Humphreys  certainly  fulfilled  the  bard's 
expectations,  expressed  in  the  lines  : 

"  Esgob  Humphreys  lies  wellhad — yr  Eglwys 

Rywioglan  gyssegriad, 
Gael  i  G6r  Bangor  heb  wad, 
I  Dduw  was  o'i  ddewisiad. 
Gwr  o'n  gwlad  gariad  geirwir — gore  'i  ddawn 

Gwr  i  Dduw  sydd  gowir, 
Gwr  o'n  hiaith  i'w  garu'n  hir, 
Ag  o'n  ffydd  a  ganffyddir." 

When  Elis  Lewis  of  Llwyngwern  published  his  translation  of 
Drexelius'  work  on  Eternity,  Edward  Morus  was  a  most  interested 
well-wisher,  and  he,  amongst  others  of  the  most  prominent  bards 
280 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

of  the  time,  wrote  commendatory  odes  to  the  work.     The  follow- 
ing englynion  are  amongst  those  he  composed  on  this  occasion  : 

"  Fob  enaid,  gwiwraid,  a  garo — fyw'n  hir 

I  fwynhau  dedwydd-dro, 
Darllened,  cadwecl  mewn  co, 
Hyn  o  dasc  hen  a'i  dysgo  ! 


Ti,  Elis  Lewis,  i'r  wlad — a  roddaist 

Arwycidion  o'th  gariad  : 
Pa  un  yn  rhoi  poeu  yn  rhad, 
Trael  lawer  trwy  olcuad. 

Cyfieithiad,  troad  i'r  truah— -Gymro 

I  gym'ryd  d}'sc  burlan  ; 
Hyffotddiad  goleuad  glan, 
O  dywyllwch  du  allan." 

He  wrote  a  beautiful  cyivydd  mai-wnad  to  Gabriel  Goodman,  Esq., 
of  Nantglyn,  who  died  on  January  loth,  1673,  and  who  was, 
probably,  a  descendant  of  the  famous  Dean  of  Westminster  of 
that  name,  the  founder  of  Ruthin  Grammar  School.  The  subject 
of  this  elegy  was  a  learned  lawyer,  as  we  gather  from  the  lines  : 

"  Dysgedig  nid  oes  gwadu, 
Yn  y  gyfraith  faith  a  fu 


Solon  oedd  sail  iawn  addysg, 
Sycurgus  lawn  dawn  a  dysg  ! 
A'i  g6f  ydoedd  yn  gadarn, 
I  gofio  heb  wyro  barn  ; 
Gwr  ethol  gwiw  areithydd, 
Sisero  lyfn,  ddyfn  i'w  ddydu, 

Un  o'i  eiriau  iawn  areth, 
Eglura'r  pwynt  ar  gloi'r  peth." 

In  Carol  y  Ctvacer  he  shows  a  particularly  strong  antipathy 
to  that  body  of  religionists  ;  the  chief  ground  of  his  quarrel  with 
them  was  that  they  refused  to  recognise  the  Lord's  Supper  : 

"  Drwy  gyfarch  Duw'n  benna  a'm  genau  mi  gana, 

Gael  cennad  ni  cheisia,  a  chased  wyf  fi, 
Gan  Grynwyr  cyfrwysgall  na  heretic  arall, 

Nid  oes  'y  mryd  diwall  mo'r  tewi. 
Os  mawr  i'r  sect  berffaith  ddiystyru  Llywodraeth, 

Mae  mwy  barnedigaeth  yn  digwydd  o'r  ddau 
Am  wrthod  drwy  aflwydd,  orchymyn  yr  Arglwydd 
Heb  bris  yn  ei  arwydd  na'i  eiiiau." 

CyfresyFilt  p.  86. 

281 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Edward  Moras'  poems  are  sweet  and  pure.  He  loved  what 
was  beautiful  in  life  and  language.  In  a  degenerate  age  he 
maintained  a  high  standard  of  moral  purity,  and  he  knew  how  to 
depict  youth  and  love  with  chastity  and  freshness.  In  politics  he 
was  an  ardent  Royalist,  and  in  religion  one  of  the  stoutest 
upholders  of  the  Establishment,  in  both  of  which  he  was  at  one 
with  his  distinguished  contemporary,  the  bard  of  Pont-y-meibion. 
All  his  religious  poems  are  evangelical  and  orthodox.  He 
delighted  in  the  action  of  the  seven  Bishops,  who  resisted 
James  II.  in  his  attempts  to  re -impose  the  Papal  yoke.  The 
Quakers  he  could  not  tolerate  because  they  would  have  kept  his 
muse  mute.  Amongst  his  nature  poems  his  Miwsig  Min  Coed  is 
as  pretty  an  ode  of  praise  to  the  nightingale  as  any  in  the 
language.  It  appears  in  Sir  O.  M.  Edwards'  Cyfres  y  Fil  collec- 
tion of  his  poems.  The  two  englynion  which  follow  are  selected 
from  that  poem  : 

"  lach  lawen  wyf,  o  chlywais, — ar  fedw 

Arfodau  peraiddlais 
Eden  llwyd,  adwen  y  llais. 
Eos  gefnllwyd  ysgafnllais. 


Eos  fwyno'r  llwyn,  darllenais — y  mann, 

A  mynych  ystyriais 
Leied  hon,  gre-lonn,  groew-lais, 
Mewn  torr  llwyn,  a  maint  yw'r  llais." 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  friendship  which  existed  between 
Huw  Moras  and  Edward  Mortis.  On  one  occasion  the  latter 
addressed  his  brother  bard  with  the  following  greeting  : 

"  Huw  Morns  felus  fyw  alarch — barod, 

Burwr  cerdd  gywreinbarch  ; 
Anerchion  cofion  cyfarch, 
I'th  wyneb  pur,  ddoeth  enw  parch." 

To  which  Huw  Morus  replied  : 

"  Mawr  Athro'n  eilio,  anwylyd — miloedd, 

Melin  y  gelfyddyd, 
Melin  dda'n  malu'n  ddiwyd, 
Malu'r  gerdd  mal  aur  i  gyd." 

Huw  Moras'  Cywydd  Marwnad  Edward  Morus  has  already  been 
282 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

mentioned.      He  gives  in  it  the  date  of  his  death  and  his  place  of 

burial  : 

"  Dau  wyth  gant,  medclant  i'n  mysg, 
Pan  ghddwyd  pen  goleuddysg  ; 
Wyth  ddeg  a  naw,  a  theg  nod, 
Oed  lesu  wedi'  osod  ; 
Daear  Essex,  dir  isod, 
Ydyw  beddle,  claddle  clod."1 

Owen   Gruffudd   of  Llanystumdwy  was  one  of  the  three  bards 
who   composed   an   elegy   to   Edward   Morus.       In   it   he   well 
describes  the  power  of  his  muse,  the  goodness  of  his  life,  and 
the  integrity  of  his  faith,  as  shown  in  the  following  englynion  : 
"  Breuddwyd  o  bwriwyd  i'r  bedd, — wir  iawnglod 

Ariangloch  cynghanedd, 
A'i  gwiw  frodiad  gyfrodedd, 
Sidan  blethiad  wastad  wedd. 
Planodd  a  naddodd  iawn  addas — ganiad 

Yn  gynil  goweithas  ; 
Gwr  da  a  fu,  gair  di  fas, 
Odiaethol  ei  gymdeithas. 
Rhoi  glod  ddi-ddarfod  i'w  ddydd, — o'i  Eglwys 

Wir  eglur  ei  chrefydd, 
Ac  i  ddoniau  gwiw  ddeunydd 
Athrawon  ffyddlon  eu  ffydd." 

Another  contemporary,  Sion  Dafydd  Las,  also  added  his  tribute 
to  Edward  Morus'  memory  : 

"Am  golofn  cerdd  ddofn  ei  ddydd, — am  fwynwr 

Ac  am  f'amvyl  brydydd, 
Ni  ddaw  neb,  gresyndcb  sydd, 
Fyth  i  ni  a'r  fath  newydd. 


Galared,  cwyned  pob  canwr — campus, 

Cwympodd  y  dysgawdwr  ; 
Athro  ydoedd,  weithredwr, 
Neuadd  y  gan  oedd  y  gwr. 
Pwy  weithian  a  gan  a  genau — mor  ber? 

Manv  y  bardd  oedd  orau  ! 
Diweddiad  pob  clymiad  clau, 
I  chwi  oedd,  a  chywyddau." 

Owen  Gruffydd,   of  Llanystumdwy,  wrote  several  poems 

which  appear  in  the  Blodmgerdd,  of  which  the  following  are  the 

titles :  "  Carol     yn    erbyn    Cybydd-dod    a    Balchder,"    "  Carol 

Duwiol  i  feddwl  am  y  Diwedd,"  "  Cyfarchiad  Henaint,"  "  Dangos 

1  Eos  Ceiriog',  i.,  26. 

283 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

ofnadwy  Fygythion  Duw  yn  amser  Tymhestloedd,"  "  Mawl  i 
Dduvv  am  y  Cymmun  Sanctaidd,"  "  Cerdd  y  Pren  Almon," 
"  Difrifol  Ystyriaeth  o  ddioddefaint  ein  lachawdwr  lesu  Grist," 
"  Myfyrdod  am  Farwolaeth,"  "  Ymddiddan  rhwng  y  Prydydd  a'r 
Gog,"  "  Cerdd  yn  gosod  allan  ddull  y  Farn  Ddiweddaf,"  "  Galar- 
nad  Troseddiad  y  Sul,"  "  Cwymp  y  Bail,"  "  Ystyriol  Freuolder 
Einioes,"  "  Ystyriaeth  ar  y  drydydd  bennod  o'r  Pregethwr," 
"  Annogaeth  i  Fodlondeb,"  "  Carol  i'r  Seren  Wyl,  neu  ddydd 
Ystwyll." 

As  will  be  seen,  Owen  Gruffydd  wrote  mostly  on  religious 
subjects.  Many  of  his  poems  were  written  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  for  he  died  in  1730.  In  the  pages  of  Y 
Brython  is  given  an  englyn  recited  by  him  against  the  custom  of 
burial  in  coffins,  and  he  is  said  to  have  given  a  strict  injunction 
that  he  should  be  buried  in  a  linen  shroud  : 

"  O  ffei  !  gwaith  ffiaidd  o'i  go' — wneyd  eirch 

Nid  archiad  Duw  mono  : 
Mewn  llian,  graian,  a  gro, 
Bu  gorff  lesu'n  gorphwyso." 

Y  Brython,  iv.,  p.  114. 

His  wish,  however,  was  not  granted,  for  W.  Elias  in  an  englyn 
composed  at  his  death  in  1730,  states  : 

"  Rhoi'r  bardd  mwyn  cufardd  mewn  cist — o  dderw, 

I'r  ddaiaren  athrist : 
O'i  edrych  'r  wyf  yn  odrist, 
Mae'n  bruddedd,  truanedd  trist." 

"  Dwyfor,"  writing  in  the  pages  of  Y  Brython  describes  Owen 
Gruffydd  as  "  hen  Brydydd,  o  fri  mawr  yn  ei  oes,  a  chryn  son  am 
dano  ar  lafar  gwlad,  heb  ond  ychydig  iawn  o  hanes,  fel  bywgraffiad 
am  dano."  i 

The  following  selection  from  his  poem  Cwymp  y  Dail  will 
serve  as  an  example  of  the  quality  of  his  muse  : 

"  Cwympoa  wneiffy  ddeilen  lasa, 
Yr  un  modd  a'r  hon  sydd  grina  : 
Y  grin  a'r  las,  pob  un  sy'n  syrthio, 
Conset  yw  hon  i  bawb  i'w  chofio 


Fe  geiff  dyn  fawrddysg  os  ystyria, 
Oddiwrth  gwymp  y  ddeilen  leia  : 


1  Y  Brython,  iv.,  p.  467. 
284 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

Ac  am  hyn  yr  oreu  i'w  chofio, 
Yw  C onset  y  Daitsy'n  syrthio. 


Y  dydd  a  roed  i  ba\vb  i  weithio, 
Pan  ddel  y  no.«,  mae'n  rhaid  gorphwyso  ; 
Y  gwaith  yn  fawr,  a  byr  yw'r  amser, 
Gwiliwn  dreulio  h'.vn  yn  ofer.:> 

In  one  of  his  poems,    Ymddiddan  rhwng  y  Prydydd  a'r  Gog,  he 
makes  the  curios  statement  that  the  Virgin  died  at  the  age  of  63  : 

"  Er  gwched  million  feinion  ha, 
Na  chynnyg  gwylia  chwennych, 
Ond  a  roddo  Duw  i'th  ran, 
Ar  wedd  dy  oedran  edrych  : 
Yr  wyt  yn  sefyll  ar  naw  saith 
O  flwyddi  i'th  ymdaith  yma, 
Ar  hyn  o  oedran  cyfan  gwyn, 
Bu  farw'r  forwyn  bura  ; 
Oedd  fam  dy  Brynwr  barnwr  byd, 
Mesurwr  hyd  dy  yrfa." 

In  common  with  many  of  the  bards  of  his  time,  his  outlook 
upon  life  was  rather  gloomy,  and  his  favourite  theme  the 
uncertainty  and  brevity  of  man's  days.  His  poems  are  usually  in 
the  free  metres. 

Sion  Dafydd  Las,  who  has  been  mentioned  as  having 
written  a  marwnad  to  Edward  Morus,  was  a  bard  and  harpist 
who  flourished  between  1650  and  1690.  He  was  generally  called 
"  Bardd  Nannau."  Upon  one  occasion  he  met  the  bard  of  Perthi 
Llwydion,  and  they  composed  six  englynion,  taking  alternate 
stanzas.  When  Sion  Dafydd  Las  heard  of  the  death  of  his 
fellow-bard  in  Essex,  he  sang  six  more,  the  last  of  which  is  as 

follows  : 

"  I'r  bedd,  lie  oetaidd  yn  Llan, — cul  feddiant ! 

Aeth  celfyddyd  fwynlan  ; 
A'r  hen  iaith,  ni  a'i  rhown  weithian 
A'r  Awen  fytii  i'r  un  fan." 

Gwaith  Gwallter  Mcchain,  i.,  p.  441. 

It  would  seem  that  Sion  Dafydd  Las  was  an  inveterate 
drunkard,  and,  no  doubt,  his  joint  vocation  as  bard  and  harpist 
often  took  him  into  the  way  of  temptation.  Lewis  Owain,  of 
Tyddyn  y  Garreg,  a  neighbour  and  contemporary,  tried  to  shame 
him  out  of  his  weakness  by  composing  the  following  englynion  : 

285 


WALES  IN  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  Hir  ofer  arfer  a  orfydci — sadrwydd, 

Cais  edrych  dy  ddefnydd  ; 
Sad  iawn  barch,  a  sydyn  bydd 
Eisiau  yn  dyfod,  Sion  Dafydd  ! 
Mab  Dafydd,  awenydd  wiw-nod — cyn  d'orwedd 

Gwna  derfyn  ar  feddwdod- — 
Mab  i  ddiawl,  anneddfawl  nod, 
Mab  Duw  oni  bai  diod." 

Gwaith  Gwallter  Ahihain,  i.,  p.  442. 

The  culprit's  conscience  was  touched,  and  he  replied : 

"Gwir  yw'r  gair,  pur-air,  heb  ball,  — a  chadarn, 

Ychydig  ai  deall  ; 
Oferedd  neu  fai  arall, 
Buan  y  gwe)  boen  a  gwall. 
At  fy  Nhad,  fwriad  edifeirwch — af 

I  ofyn  ei  heddwch, 
Gan  grynu,  llechu'n  y  llwch, 
A  darostwng  i  dristwch." 

Ibid.,  p.  442. 

Lewis  Owain  praised  his  effort  to  reform  and  gave  him  every 
encouragement : 

"Am  bechod,  ddu  nod,  a  wnaist, — y  prydydd, 

Pur  odiaeth  y  cenaist ; 
Gwna  dithau,  Sion,  ffyddlon,  ffest, 
Fawl  didwyll,  fel  y  d'wedaist." 

Ibid. 

The  reform,  however,  did  not  last  long,  and  one  morning,  after  a 
night's  debauch,  the  reprobate  bard  bemoaned  his  aching  head, 
as  follows  : 

"  Pen  brol,  pen  lledffol,  pen  llaith, — pen  dadwrdd, 

Pen  d'wedyd  yn  helaeth  ; 
Pen  croch  alw,  pen  crych  eihvailh, 
Pen  a  swn  mal  pennau  saith." 

A  bard  named  Wmffrai  Dafydd  ab  I  fan,  the  sexton  of 
Llanbrynmair,  sang  during  the  Commonwealth  period,  and  some 
of  his  poems  appear  in  Llyfr  Carolau  Thomas  Jones ;  Almanaciivr, 
1696.  They  are  part  of  the  carol  literature  of  the  period. 

In  the  Cambrian  Biography,  a  bard  named  Watcin 
Clywedog  is  said  to  have  flourished  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  would  seem  from  his  poems  that  he  was 
a  native  of  Arfon.  He  lost  his  three  sons  in  one  year,  and  the 
286 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

bard  wrote  an  elegy  full  of  pathos  on  the  occasion,  in  which  the 
following  lines  occur  : 

"  Trist  yw'r  galon  don  i'm  dydd, — maiw  Wiliam, 

Rolant,  a  Meredydd  ; 
Trist  benyd  thoes  Duw  beunydd, 
Tristwch  tra  bwy'  fwyfwy  fydd  ! 
Ow  !  feibion  tirion  teiriaith — ymadrodd 

Chwi  a'u  medrech  yn  berffaith  ; 
Gyrwch  air  hygar  o'ch  iaith, 
I'm  sirio,  rymus  araith." 

The  Rev.  P.  B.  Williams  thinks  that  this  bard  lived  at  Rhiw- 
aedog,  near  Bala,  and  that  he  and  his  sons  were  buried  at  Llanfor, 
and  not  at  Llannor  in  Lleyn.  There  is,  however,  a  Cfywedog  in 
Mawddwy.  It  is  the  name  of  a  small  stream  which  runs  into  the 
Dovey,  near  Mallwyd.  There  were  two  other  bards  from  that 
locality,  leuan  Clywedog,  and  Sion  leuan  Clywedog.1 

In  reply  to  his  pathetic  appeal  to  his  sons  to  send  him  a 
message,  Wat  tin  Clywedog  conceives  in  imagination  the  following 
message : 

"  Siriwch,  gobeithiwch  bob  avvr— yn  ufudd 

Am  y  nefol  drysawr  ; 
Llawenydd  a  fo  yn  Llannawr 
Llawen  vm  ni  yn  Haw  'Nuw  mawr. 
Ffarwel,  dad,  a'n  gwlad,  fe  glodd — Duw  arnom 

Deyrnas  lle'n  coronodd  ; 
Gweled  yr  ym,  golud  rodd, 
Wyneb  Brenin  a'n  prynodd." 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  lines  that  Watcin  Clywedog  was  a 
skilful  bard,  especially  in  composing  englynion. 

Thomas  Llwyd  o  Benmaen,  a  Quaker  bard,  flourished 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  It  is  not  known  to  which  Penmaen 
he  belonged.  There  is  one  near  Dolgelley,  and  another  near 
Machynlleth.  One  of  his  fellow  bards  wrote  to  him  to  try  to 
dissuade  him  from  his  Quaker  views,  praising  his  poetic  skill  and 
advising  him  to  return  to  the  fold  of  the  Church.  To  this 
Thomas  Llwyd  replied  : 

"  Euog  a  rhanog  a  rheiny — a  fiim, 
Wyf  yma'n  chwennychu 

1  Gwaith  G-wallter  Mechain,  \.     (See  footnote,  p.  463). 

287 


Adferawl  edifaru 
Am  ffolion  arferion  fu. 
Paul  glan  ar  eiriau  a  roes, — yn  fynych, 

Yn  fenaid  ddychryn-loes  ; 
'  A  hauo  dyn  hyd  ei  einioes, 
A  feda  ef  wedi  oes.' 
Gochelaf,  ciliaf,  rhag  caled — gpdwm 

Gyda'r  byd  sy'n  cerdded  ; 
Ceisiaf  newyddaf  nodded, 
Ganlyn  Crist,  goleuni  Cred."  ' 

Matthew  Owen,  who  is  styled  at  the  end  of  one  of  his 
poems  in  the  Blodeitgerdd  "  Matthew  Owen,  o  Lan  Garw  Gwyn, 
pan  oedd  yn  Rhydychain,"2  composed  four  poems  which  have 
found  their  way  into  that  work.  The  first  is  entitled  Hanes  y 
Cymry.  He  traces  them  back  to  Caer-Droya  (Troy),  and  brings 
in  all  the  prominent  personages,  real  and  imaginary,  who  figured, 
in  the  history  of  Cambria  from  mythological  times  to  his  own  day. 
Taliesin,  Gildas,  Isidore,  Bishop  of  Sevile  ;  Giraldus,  Sir  John 
Prys,  Humphrey  Llwyd,  John  Stow,  John  Bale,  Dr.  loan  Gwent 
(Sion  Cent),  Dr.  Dafydd.Powel,  Dr.  Pezron,  Mr.  Elis  ap  Elis,  Mr. 
Theophilus  Evans,  Thomas  Williams  oes  Lyfr,  Dafydd  Jones, 
Ficar,  Edmund  Prys,  William  Phylip,  and  Edward  Llwyd,  are 
cited  as  authorities  for  the  contents  of  each  stanza,  respectively, 
in  this  strange  medley  of  history  and  myth,  which  is  certainly  one 
of  the  quaintest  poems  in  the  Blodeugerdd. 

Of  his  next  effusion,  which  is  entitled  Dull  o  ymddiddan 
rhwng  dwy  chivaer  am  Wra,  it  is  stated  that  Matthew  Owen  o 
blwyf  Llangar,  wrote  "  dros  y  meibion"  and  William  Prys 
Dafydd,  "dros  y  merched"  and  the  poem  is  dated  1660.  The 
following  stanza  gives  an  idea  of  the  treatment  of  the  theme  : 

"  Merch  a  dorrodd  Adda  i  lavvr, 
A  merch  a  dwyllodd  Samson  gavvr, 
O  achos  merch  oedd  deg  ei  gwawr, 
Yr  aeth  Troia  fawr  yn  wreichion  ! 
A  merched  gynt  a  feddwodd  Lot, 
Wrth  fethu  canffot  dynion, 
A  oni  adwaenoch  ferch  ddi  fai, 
Rhowch  ogan  llai  i'r  meibion." 

1  Givaitk  Gwallter  Mechain,  i.,  p.  439.     2  Blodeugerdd^  p.  389. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

The  third  poem  is  entitled  Deisyfiad  un  am  s,ael  Physig  gan  ft 
gatiad.  The  bard  suffers  from  the  disease,  which  is  as  old  as 
the  world,  and  tells  the  object  of  his  affections  that  the  herbs  for 
its  cure  grow  only  in  her  garden  of  love : 

"  Nid  oes  dim  all  safio  mywyd, 
Ond  a  wnelo  chwi  fy  amvylyd, 
O'ch  hynaws  gelfyddyd  eich  hunan, 
I  mae'r  holl  lysiau  ond  eu  ceisio 
Yn  eich  gerddi  chwi  'n  blodeuo, 
Nid  rhaid  i  chwi  wario  mo'ch  arian." 

The  fourth  poem  is  entitled  "  Carol  Plygain  Croniclaidd,  yn 
mynegi  Ganedigaeth  a  Dioddefaint  IESU  ;  a  hanes  y  Cymry  o'u 
dechreuad."  It  opens  : 

"  Gwasgwn  bawb  ein  pennau  ynghyd, 

Tiwy  gwbl  fryd,  gu  frodyr; 
I  foli'r  haeldad,  rhoddiad  rhwydd, 

Yr  hylwydd  Arglwydd  eglur. 
Ond  hwn  yw'r  gwyliau  goreu  a  gaed, 

Er  pan  wnaed  eneidiau  ? 
Yganwyd  gwir  fab  Duw  ei  hun, 

Eill  roi  pob  djn  o'i  boenau." 

He  then  proceeds  to  relate  the  early  legends  concerning  Britain, 
and  fixes  the  coming  of  Brutus  in  1108  B.C.  : 

<c  Un  cant  ar  ddeg  ag  wyth  mlwydd  gu, 
Cyn  geni  yr  lesu  rasol." 

Then  he  works  through  the  dispensation  of  the  prophets  to  the 
coming  of  Christ  in  the  year  of  the  world,  4,000 : 

"  Ac  oed  y  byd  at  bedair  mil, 
Y  caed  o'i  hil,  Duw'r  hylwydd." 

Then  are  recorded  all  the  events  accompanying  the  Nativity,  the 
Crucifixion,  and  the  bringing  of  the  Gospel  to  Britain  by  Joseph 
of  Arimathea : 

"  A'r  Joseph  hwn  addaeth  cyn  hir, 

I  rodio  breudir  Biydain 
Gan  roi'r  efengyl  i'w  mawrhau, 
Rhyd  temlau  caerau  cywrain  " — 

And  the  conversion  of  Lucius  or  Les  to  Christianity  in  180  A.D. 
is  next  related : 

"  A  chynta  brenin  uwch  y  gwydd, 

A  drodd  i'r  ffydd  gris'nogaidd  ; 

Oedd  pen  iheolwr  Biydain  o'r  dlws, 

A'i  henw  Liwsiws,  Iwysaidd." 

289 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

He  mentions  Elen  (Helen  Luyddawg)  bringing  the  Cross  to 
Britain  Sept.  14,  320  A.D.,  the  Devotion  of  'King  Arthur  to 
Christianity,  and  his  strict  observance  of  the  Christian  festivals ; 
the  rising  of  the  Sects  who  neglected  them,  and  his  own  deter- 
mination to  resist  their  indifference  in  this  respect,  especially  to 
the  observance  of  Christmas  : 

"  Ond  cododd  Sectau  yr  oes  hon, 
Can  wadu  yr  gwiwlon  wyliau  ; 
Pa  mwya  gablo  nhwy  ar  hwn, 
Yn  fwy  moliannwn  ninnau." 

He  finishes  this  quaint  mixture  of  sacred  and  profane  history, 
fact  and  fancy,  by  commending  his  carol  to  the  men  of  Gwynedd : 

"  Trigolion  Gwynedd  Iwysaidd  lu, 
Er  mwyn  difyrru'r  gwylie  ; 
Derbyniwch  hwn  i'r  lawen  wlad, 
O  ffyddlon  ganiad  Jifatthe. 

His  englyn  to  Huw  and  Edward  Morus  distinguishes  between  the 
two  bards  thus  : 

"  Mae  dyfais  fawrgais  ofergerdd — gan  Hu-w 

I  ymhoewi  mewn  ^zya«/gerdd  ; 
Caniadau  pynciau  pencerdd, 
Ned  a.  gan  enaid  y  gerdd." 

But  Matthew  Owen  was  not  an  unprejudiced  authority,  where 
Huw  Morus  was  concerned. 

Lewis  Owen,  o  Dyddyn  y  Garreg,  who  was  mentioned 
above  in  connection  with  Sion  Dafydd  Las,  has  one  composition 
in  the  Blodeugerdd,  entitled  Sesiwn  gwr  ifangc  am  ei  Gariad.  It 
is  an  appleal  to  his  Venus,  whom  he  conceives  as  a  Justice  sitting 
on  the  Bench,  to  hear  his  plea  for  mercy  : 

"  Rwy  yma  fel  carcharor,  mewn  cyflwr  blin  o'ch  blaen, 
Yn  deisyf  barn  neu  bardwn  drwy  bur  opiniwn  plaen, 
A  Chi-wpit  Arglwydd  Ffansi,  hwn  ydyw  Siri  y  serch, 
A  chwithau'n  eiste'n  Ustiis,  liardd  fedrus  foddus  ferch, 
Da'i  medrwch  seren  eglur,  a'ch  synwyr  drin  eich  swydd, 
Cyfiawnder  gnu  new ch  yn  iach  chwi  a'm  cewch  a  thrugarhewch  yn 
rhwydd." 

Elis  Cadwaladr  was  a  bard  of  Edeirnion,  between  Corwen 
and  Bala,  in  Merionethshire.  Four  of  his  poems  are  published 
in  the  Blodeugerdd.  The  first  is  entitled  Carol  Plygain  i  foliannu 
Duw,  and  is  dated  1703.  It  follows  the  usual  lines  of  carols  of 
290 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

the  time  in  summarising  Bible  history  from  the  Creation  to  the 
end  of  Christ's  work  in  the  Redemption  of  the  world,  and  contains 
an  attack  on  Roman/an/0/w  : 

"  Nid  Pab  nag  aur  ddelwau  sydd  deilwng  i  faddeu, 
Ni  chadw  ein  Eneidiau  am  ein  beiau  yn  y  byd  "— 

and  ends  with  an  invocation  to  God  to  preserve  the  Queen  and 
to  save  England  from  Rome  : 

"  Duw  cadw'r  Dwysoges,  sef  Ann  ein  Brenhines, 
Rhag  twyll  a  drwg  fales,  er  mawrlles,  Amen. 
A  nertha  ni  yn  unig  a'th  law  fendigedig, 
Rhag  dirmyg  a  Rhyfyg  gwyr  Rhufen." 

The  second  is  also  a  carol  entitled  Carol  P/ygain  ifoliannu 
Duw,  and  is  much  on  the  same  lines. 

The  third  is  entitled  Ymddiddan  rhwng  Dyn  a  Chydwybod^ 
bob  yn  Ail  Penill,  and  is  a  reflection  concerning  the  claims  of 
conscience  from  the  standpoint  of  Christianity.  His  last  poem  is 
entitled  Clod  i  Ferch,  in  which  he  brings  in  the  lady's  name, 
Margaret  Anwyl,  in  a  kind  of  acrostic,  and  asserts  that  it  would 
take  the  combined  skill  of  Virgil,  Horace,  Orpheus,  and  the  nine 
Muses,  to  describe  her.  His  own  description  is,  in  part,  as 
follows : 

"  Y  hi  ydi'r  Ian  flodeu  yn  damasg, 

Lluneiddwasg  feinwasg  fwyn, 

Drych  o  Fernvs  wych  o  fonedd, 

A'r  decca  ei  gwedd  a'r  dwyn  ; 

Nis  gwn  i  pwy  o  fil  neu  fwy, 

A'i  comparia  yn  nyddiau  nwy, 

Am  eiriau  mel  lle'r  el  lliw'r  wy." 

(b)  ENGLISH  AND  LATIN   POEMS 

William  Vaughan,  son  of  W.  Vaughan,  of  Golden  Grove, 
in  Carmarthenshire,  and  younger  brother  of  Sir  John  Vaughan, 
first  Earl  of  Carbery,  was  born  in  1577,  and  entered  Jesus  College, 
Oxford,  1591,  at  the  age  of  14.'  After  leaving  Oxford,  he  had  a 
varied  and  interesting  career  and  travelled  on  the  Continent, 
visiting  Vienna  and  other  towns.  He  afterwards  became  the 
chief  undertaker  of  the  plantation  in  Cambriol,  the  southernmost 
Oxou  :  i.s  pp.  45Q^« 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

part  of  Newfoundland,  afterwards  called  by  some  Britaniola,  an 
enterprise  into  which  he  threw  himself  wholeheartedly,  neither 
sparing  his  pen,  purse,  nor  person. 

His  works,  as  given  in  the  Athena  Oxonienses,  are  as  follows  : 

1.  "  EP12TOIIAIFXIOX  Piuni  continens  canticum  canticorum 
Solomonis,  &  Psalmos  aliquot   selectiores,   una  cum  quibus- 
dam  aliis  poematis  e  Sacra;  Scripture  fontibus  petitis.    Lond. 

I597-" 

2.  "  Eletna    eratulatoria    in   honorem  illustriss.     Herois  Carol! 

o          o 

Howard    Comitis    Nottingham       23    Oct.     1597    meretiss. 

creati.:; 

Both  the  above  were  printed  together. 

3.  "  Varia  Poernata  de  Sphaerarum  ordine  &c.     Lond.     1589." 

4.  "  Poemata  Continent.  Encom.  Roberti  Comitis  Essex.  1598." 

5.  "  The  Golden  Grove  Moralized,  in  3  books.     A  work  very 
necessary  for  all  such  as  would  know  how  to  govern  them- 
selves,   their   houses,    or  their  country."     Lond.    1600,  and 
1608.     This  book,  which  is  written  in  prose,  was  commended 
to  the  world,  Wood  states,    "by   some  Poets,    or   at   least 
pretenders  to  poetry,   then  (1600)  living  in  the   University, 
as  Dr.  John  Williams,  Margaret  Professor ;  Will.   Osbourne, 
one  of  the  Proctors:  Hen.   Price,  B.D.,  St.  John's  College; 
Griffith  Powel,  of  Jesus  ;  John  Budden,  LI. I).,  Nich.  Lang- 
ford  and   Tho.  Came,   M.A.'s ;  Gabriel   Powel,  B.A.,  Sam. 
Powel,  Tho.  Storer,  John  Rawlinson,  M.A.'s,  &c.,  &c." 

6.  "  Cambrensium  Caroleia.    Quibus   nuptiae   regales  celebran- 
tur,  memoria  regis  pacifici  renovatur,   &  pnecepta  necessaria 
ad   rempub.   nostrum    fa^liciter   administrandum  intexunter : 
reportata    a    Colchide    Cambriola    ex    australissima  Novae 
Terrae  plaga.     Lond.  1625." 

This  is  a  Latin  poem  dedicated  by  Vaughan  under  the  name 
Orpheus  Junior  to  Charles  I. 

7.  "  The  Golden  Fleece,  divided  into  three  parts,  under  which 
are  discovered  the  errors  of  Religion,  the  vices  and  decays  of 
the.  Kingdom,  «.\:c.,  Lond,  1626."     This  is  a  prose  work. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

The  year  of  William  Vaugharvs  death  is  not  known,  but  he 
was  living  at  Cambriol  in  1628. 

Sir  John  Stradling,  the  son  of  Francis  Stradling,  was  born 
near  Bristow,  in  Somersetshire,  but  descended  from  an  ancient 
and  knightly  family  living  at  St.  Donat's,  Glamorganshire.  He 
was  educated  under  Edward  Green,  Prebendary  of  the  Cathedral 
at  Bristol,  entered  Brasnose  College,  Oxford,  in  1579,  aged  16. 
In  1583  he  took  his  B.A.  degree,  as  member  of  Magdalen  Hall, 
"  being  then  accounted  a  miracle  for  his  forwardness  in  learning 
and  pregnancy  of  parts."  '  He  afterwards  travelled,  and  later 
jqined  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  was  much  admired  by  the  learned 
Camden,  Sir  John  Harrington,  the  poet ;  Thomas  Leyson,  and 
above  all  by  Dr.  John  Dafydd  Rhys,  the  noted  physician, 
grammarian,  and  critic.  His  first  work  entitled  DC  vita  et  morte 
contemncnda,  which  is  written  in  three  books  and  addressed  to  his 
uncle,  Sir  Edward  Stradling,  of  St.  Donat's,  was  printed  at 
Frankfort,  in  1597.  In  1607  he  published  Epi^rammatitm  Libri 
Qitatuorf  printed  in  London  ;  and  two  years  later  he  succeeded 
his  uncle  at  St.  Donat's  Castle,  took  up  his  residence  there,  and 
was  made  a  baronet  in  1611.  For  some  years  subsequently  he 
was  so  involved  in  affairs,  in  which  he  was  highly  esteemed  for 
his  wisdom  and  learning,  that  he  gave  up  writing.  But  towards 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  I.  he  published,  in  1623,  a  Divine 
Poem  entitled  Beati  Pacifid.  This  was  perused  by  the  King  and 
printed  by  authority.  Upon  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  he 
published  Divine  Poems  in  seven  several  Classes,  which  were 
addressed  to  Charles,  in  1625.  At  the  end  of  this  work  is  an 
Epitaph  made  by  him  on  James  I.  In  1625  he  was  Knight  of 
the  shire  of  Glamorgan.  He  died  in  1637.3 

John  Owen  or  Audoenus  was  the  most  noted  epigram- 
matist of  his  age.  He  was  born  at  Llanarmon,  in  Carnarvonshire, 
and  was  the  third  son  of  Thomas  Owen,  of  Plasdu,  in  that 

1  Ath  :  Oxon  :  5.,  p.  429.  2This  was  principally  addressed  to  his  friends 
and  relatives  in  Glamorganshire,  and  contains  various  historical  notices  of 
interest.  See  William?  Eminent  Welshmen.  3  Traherne's  Slradling  Corres- 
pondence (1840) 

293 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

parish  ;  educated  at  Winchester  School,  and  afterwards  at  New 
College,  Oxford,  where  he  became  Fellow,  in  1584,  and  B.C.L.  in 
1590.  He  adopted  the  scholastic  profession,  and  taught  school 
first  at  Trelech,  near  Monmouth,  and  afterwards,  1594,  at 
Warwick,  in  the  school  founded  by  Henry  VIII.  Wood  states 
that  he  was  a  person  endowed  with  several  gifts,  and  especially 
with  the  faculty  of  poetry,  which  made  him  famous  for  those 
books  of  Epigrams  which  he  published,  "  Wherein  an  ingenious 
liberty  of  joking  being  by  him  used,  was,  and  is  now,  with  some, 
especially  foreigners,  not  a  little  pleasing  and  delightful." "  He 
was  distinguished  for  his  perfect  knowledge  of  Latin,  and  his 
Epigrams  written  in  that  language  were  universally  admired,  and 
obtained  for  him  great  celebrity,  but  fame  was  his  only  reward' 
for  he  was,  unfortunately,  to  quote  Wood  again,  "  troubled  with 
the  disease  which  attends  Poets — indigence."2  Some  of  his 
indigence  might  have  been  due  to  his  great  expectations  from  a 
rich  uncle,  but  owing  to  his  pungent  epigram  against  the  Church 
of  Rome,  he  wras  struck  out  of  his  will,  and  the  book  was  placed 
on  the  Index  Expnrgatorius.^>  He  was  received  into  the  patron- 
age of  Bishop  John  Williams,  of  Lincoln,  afterwards  Archbishop 
of  York,  who  was  his  countryman  and  kinsman,  and  who  for 
several  years  kept  him  above  want.  He  died  in  1622,  and  was 
buried  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  where  a  monument  was  erected  to 
his  memory  by  Archbishop  Williams. 
His  writings  are  : 

1.  "  Epigrammatum  lib.  3.  ad  Mariam  Nevill  comitis  Dorcestriae 
filiam  dicati.     Lond.     1606.     oct."     Printed   twice  in   that 
year. 

2.  "  Epigrammatum   lib.   singularis ;  ad  doctissimam  heroinam 
D.  Arabellam  Stewart." 

3.  "  Epigram,  lib.  3  ad  Hen.  Principem  Cambriae  duae ;  ad 
Carolum  Ebor.  unus." 

4.  "  Epigram,  ad  tres  M?ecenates  libri  tres.    Ad  Car.  Noel  Eq.  & 

1 A then  :  Oxon:  i.,  pp.  400-1.       2The  Oxford  historian  sometimes  made 
sweeping  generalisations  of  this  kind.     3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p  277. 

294 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

Baronettum,     unus,     Ad    Gul.    Sedley  Eq.    &  Bar.   alter. 

Ad  Rog.  Owen  Eq.  aur.  tertius." 
5.  "  Monastica  qusedam  Ethica  &  Politica  veterum  sapientium." 

They  were  all  published  later  in  one  volume,  not  only  in 
England,  but  beyond  the  seas.  In  1619,  John  Vicars,  usher  of 
Christ's  Hospital,  in  London,  a  Puritanical  poet,  translated  a 
select  number  of  them  from  several  books  then  extant  into 
English  verse,  and  printed  them  in  London  in  that  year.  In 
1659,  Thomas  Pecke,  of  the  Inner  Temple,  translated  six  hundred 
of  Owen's  Epigrams  into  English  verse.  He  printed  them  with 
Martial  de  Spectaadis  and  the  most  select  epigrams  of  Sir  Thomas 
More,  under  the  title  Parnassi  Puerperium,  in  London.  1659. 
Thomas  Harvey,  at  a  later  date,  also  translated  most  of  them  into 
English. 

The  first  Latin  impressions  were  greedily  bought  by  European 
scholars,  and  carried  beyond  the  seas.  They  subsequently  came 
under  the  scrutiny  of  Roman  Catholic  inquisitors,  who  considered 
that  they  contained  heretical  and  dangerous  matter,  and  more 
especially  for  the  two  following  lines,  they  listed  Owen's  work  in 
the  Index  Expurgatorius  : 

"  An  Petrus  fuerit  Romae,  sub  judice  lisest." 

"  Simonum  Romae,  nemo  fuisse  negat." 

These  verses  also  cost  him  his  inheritance,  as  stated  above.  His 
monument  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  is  erected  on  a  pillar  next  to  the 
Consistory  Stairs,  with  his  Effigies  (a  shoulder- piece  in  brass) 
crowned  with  laurel,  and  an  inscription  in  six  verses,  the  two  first 
of  which  read : 

"  Parva  tihi  statua  est,  quia  parva  statura,  supellex 
Parva,  volat  parvus  magna  per  ora  liber." 

Spanish  translations  of  John  Owen's  Epigrams  were  published 
in  1674  and  1682,  and  a  French  version  in  1709. 

Epigrams  in  memory  of  John  Owen  were  written  by  John 
Stradling  and  John  Dunbar. 

Hugh  Holland,  the  son  of  Robert  Holland,  of  Denbigh, 
was  born  in  that  town,  and  educated  first  at  Westminster  School, 

295 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

under  Camden,  and  subsequently  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
which  he  entered  in  1589,  and  of  which  he  became  Fellow.1  He 
travelled  much  abroad,  and  visited  Italy,  and  thence  made  a 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  "  to  do  the  devotions." 2  At  Rome  he 
had  given  vent  to  his  political  and  religious  sentiments,  and 
returning  via  Constantinople,  he  was  called  to  account  at  that 
place  by  Sir  Thomas  Glover,  the  British  Ambassador  there,  for 
disparaging  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  cast  into  prison.3  He  returned 
to  Oxford  and  spent  some  years  of  his  life  at  Balliol  College,  but 
was  unable  to  obtain  any  preferment,  perhaps,  owing  to  his 
political  bias.  He  was  a  good  English  and  Latin  poet,  and  there 
were  some  who  ranked  him  with  Spenser  and  Sidney.*  Wood's 
estimate  of  him  was  that  he  was  "  no  bad  English  but  an 
excellent  Latin  poet.''  He  wrote  : 

1.  "  Verses  in  description  of  the  Chief  Cities  of  Europe." 

2.  "  Chronicle  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  Reign." 

3.  "  Life   of   William   Camden,  Clarenceaux  King  of  Armes," 
published  in  London  eight  years  after  his  death. 

4.  "  A  Cypress    Garland    for  the   sacred  forehead  of   the   late 
Sovereign  King  James.     Lond.   1625."     A  Poem. 

Hugh  Holland  died  at  Westminster  in  1633,  and  was  buried 
amongst  the  poets  in  the  Abbey  Church.  Upon  his  monument 
is  inscribed  "  Miserimus  peccator,  musarum  et  amicitiarum  cultor 
sanctissimus.'' 

John  Davies  of  Hereford  (? — 1618)  was  an  Oxford  man, 
and  his  record  is  given  by  Wood,5  but  he  omits  to  mention  his 
college.  He  states  of  him  that  he  was  "  more  Poet  than  Scholar." 
He  set  up  as  a  writing-master  in  London  and  was  there  esteemed 
"the  greatest  master  of  his  pen  that  England  in  his  age  beheld."6 
At  his  death  "he  was  exceeded  by  Gethin»  [?  Gethin]  his  country- 
man and  scholar."  ^  Anthony  Wood  adds  that  John  Davies 

'  The  Hollands  came,  it  is  believed,  from  a  place  in  Lancashire  called 
Holland,  which  is  mentioned  by  William  Camden.  Writing  of  IVi^in  he 
says,  "Haid  by  Holland  shewcth  itself."— Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh,  p. 
2O1.  ~  Athen  :  Oxon  :  i.,  pp.  498-9.  3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  219. 
See  also  Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh,  p.  203.  4ibid.  5  Athen  :  Oxon  :  i.» 
pp.,  377-8.  6ibid.  7ibid. 

•296 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

"could  flourish  matter  with  his  fancy  as  well  as  letters  with  his 
pen."     His  writings  are: 

1.  "Mirum  in  Modo."     A  Poem.     1602  and  1616. 

2.  ••  Microcosmos."     A  Poem.     1603. 

3.  "The  Holy  Roode  of  Christ's  Cross."     1609. 

4.  "Sonnets." 

5.  "The  triumph  of  Death."     1603. 

6.  "Wits  Pilgrimage." 

7.  "The  Muses'  Tears  for  the  loss  of  their  hope,  the  heroic  and 
never  too  much  praised  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales."     1613. 

8.  "Time's  Sobs  for  his  [Prince  Henry's]  untimely  loss." 
There  is  also  "a  large  copy  of  his  verses  before  Philemon 

Holland's  translation  of  Camden's  Britannia^     He  died  in  1618. 

Henry  Vaughan,  called  the  Silurist,  was  born  at 
Skethrog,  Brecon,  April  17,  1622.  He  was  taught  for  six  years 
by  one,  Matthew  Herbert,  a  noted  schoolmaster  of  his  time, 
rector  of  Llangattock,  and  afterwards  entered  Jesus  College, 
Oxford,  in  1638;  but  soon  after  the  Civil  Wars  began,  he  left  the 
University,  as  Wood  says,  "  to  the  horror  of  all  good  men,  was 
called  home,  and  followed  the  pleasant  paths  of  Poetry  and 
Philology."2  He  afterwards  studied  medicine  and  became 
eminent  in  that  profession. 

His  most  valued  work  is  that  entitled  Olor  Iscanus,  which 
was  published  in  1650-51,  in  London.  It  consists  of  a  collection 
of  some  select  poems.  Another  production  was  Si  lex  Sd/itilla/ts, 
or,  the  Bleeding  Heart,  1650,  which  consists  of  "Sacred  Poems 
and  Ejaculations,"  in  two  Books.  With  the  second  edition  of 
this  work,  which  was  published  in  1652,  are  found  other  poems 
entitled  The  Mount  of  Olives,  or,  Solitary  Devotions.  Many  of 
his  poems  were  collected  and  published  under  the  title  Thalia 
Rediviva,  in  1678,  by  his  friends.  The  poet  himself  had  fallen 
into  bad  health  and  had  retired  to  his  birthplace,  Skethrog,  where 
he  devoted  himself  wholly  to  piety,  living  in  the  greatest  seclusion. 

1  Atken  :  Oxon  :  i.,  pp.  377-8.  *  ibid,  ii.,  pp.  926-7.  Wood  gives  the 
place  of  his  birth  as  Newton  St.  Bridget,  lying  on  the  river  /sea,  commonly 
called 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

He  translated  from  Latin  into  English  many  works,  the  chief  of 
which  were: 

1.  "Of  the  benefit  we  may  get  from  our  Enemies,"  a  discourse 
originally  written  in  Greek,  but  translated  into  Latin  by  Dr. 
John  Rainolds,  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 

2.  "Of  the  Diseases  of  the  Mind  and  Body,"  also  a  Greek  work 
put  into  Latin  by  the  same  Oxford  Scholar. 

3.  "Of  the  Diseases  of  the  Mind  and  of  the  Body,  and  which 
of  them  is  most  pernicious,"  also  translated  from  the  Greek 
into  Latin,  by  Dr.  Rainolds. 

4.  "  The  Blessed  State  of  Man,"  a  work  of  Archbishop  Anselm. 
This  translation  was  printed  with  The  Mount  of  Olives. 

5.  "  Two    excellent    Discourses :    (a)    Of    Temperance     and 
Patience,  (b)  Of  Life  and  Death."     London,  1654. 

6.  "  The  World  contemn'd." 

7.  "  Hermetical  Physic :  or,    the   right   way    to    preserve   and 
restore  health,"  1655. 

He  also  translated  from  Spanish  into  English,  The  Praise  and 
Happiness  of  the  Country  Life,  written  originally  by  Guevara, 
Bishop  of  Carthagena.  This  is  also  printed  with  Olor  Iscanus. 

Vaughan  also  published  The  Life  of  Paulimts,  Bishop  of 
Nola,  collected  out  of  his  own  writings  and  other  primitive 
authors.  This  work  with  Two  excellent  Discourses  and  The  World 
contemned  were  published  together  under  the  title  Flores  Solitudinis, 
Henry  Vaughan  died  at  Skethrog  in  1695,  and  was  buried  in  the 
parish  church  of  Llansantffraid,  near  Brecon. 

The  following  lines  are  a  worthy  example  of  the  strong  faith 
which  permeates  Henry  Vaughan's  poems  : 

"  Death  and  darkness,  get  you  packing, 
Nothing  now  to  man  is  lacking  ; 
All  your  triumphs  now  are  ended, 
And  what  Adam  marr'd  is  mended  ; 
Graves  are  beds  now  for  the  weary, 
Death  a  nap,  to  wake  more  merry  ; 
Youth  now,  full  of  pious  duty, 
Seeks  in  thee  for  perfect  beauty ; 
The  weak  and  aged,  tired  with  length 
Of  days,  from  Thee  look  for  new  strength  ; 

298 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

And  infants  with  Thy  pangs  contest 
As  pleasant  as  if  with  the  breast. 
Then  unto  Him,  who  thus  hath  thrown 
Even  to  contempt  Thy  Kingdom  down, 
And  by  His  blood  did  us  advance 
Unto  His  own  inheritance  ; 
To  Him  be  glory,  power,  praise, 
From  this  unto  the  last  of  days." 

Another  poet- physician  of  this  century  was  Thomas 
Leyson,  who  was  born  at  Neath,  in  Glamorganshire,  educated 
at  Winchester  School,  and  afterwards  at  New  College,  Oxford,  in 
1569,  where  he  became  Perpetual  Fellow.  After  taking  degrees 
in  Arts,  he  entered  upon  Physic,1  and  in  1583  was  Proctor  of  the 
University.  He  afterwards  settled  as  a  physician  in  the  city  of 
Bath,  and  became  as  celebrated  there  for  his  skill  in  that  pro- 
fession as  he  had  been  at  Oxford  for  his  Latin  poems. 

He  wrote  in  Latin  a  poem  describing  the  site  and  beauty  of 
St.  Donat's  Castle,  which  afterwards  came  under  the  notice  of 
Dr.  John  Dafydd  Rhys,  who  styled  it  Venestum  Poema,  translated 
it  into  Welsh,  and  said  of  its  author  that  he  was  Vir  cum  rei 
mediae,  turn  Poetices  meritissimus.  Wood  informs  us  that  he  had 
seen  much  of  his  poetry  scattered  in  several  books,  and  that  Sir 
John  Harrington,  the  famous  Epigrammatist,  had  an  especial 
respect  for  Leyson's  learning,  and  so  had  Sir  Edward  Stradling, 
of  St.  Donat's  Castle.  John  Stradling  wrote  several  Epigrams  to 
him.  Thomas  Leyson  died  at  Bath  about  1607.  The  Athena 
Oxonienses  remarks  that  he  had  written  "divers  other  things," 
and  gives  this  on^the  authority  "  of  several  scholars  from  Wales." 


1  Athena  Oxon  :  i.,  pp.  295-6. 

299 


CHAPTER    IV 

GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 


IN    the  seventeenth  century  there  were  many  Welshmen  who 
contributed  in  their  several  ways  to  this  important  branch  of 
learning.      Amongst  them  the  leading  figures  were  Dr.  Thomas 
Williams  and  Dr.  John  Davies.      But  others,  not  so  outstanding, 
also  rendered  valuable  service. 

Henry  Perry  (or  Parry),  1561-1617,  "a  Welshman  born,"1  as 
Wood  describes  him,  was  educated  at  Gloucester  Hall,  Oxford,* 
where  he  took  the  B.A.  degree  in  1580,  M.A.  in  1583,  B.D.  as  a 
member  of  Jesus  College,  in  1597.  After  travelling  much  abroad, 
he  became  chaplain  to  Sir  Richard  Bulkeley,  of  Beaumaris.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  Robert  Vaughan,  of  that  town.  3  In 
1 60 1  he  became  rector  of  Rhoscolyn.  in  Anglesey,  a  living  which 
he  vacated  in  1606,  when  he  accepted  the  rectory  of  Trefdraeth, 
in  the  same  county.  In  1 6 1 2  he  was  made  a  canon  of  Bangor, 
and  in  1613  he  received  the  living  of  Llanfachreth,  Anglesey. 
His  chief  work  is  Egluryn  Phraethineb.  Sebh,  Dosparth  ar  Retoreg, 
i/n  o'r  saith  gelbhydhyd,yn  dysgu  Ihuniaith  ymadrodh,  cCi  pherthyn- 
asau,  1595.  This  work  has  been  erroneously  attributed  to  William 
Salesbury,  who  had  left  in  manuscript  a  short  collection  of  the 
Figures  of  Syntax.  Salesbury's  work,  however,  is  of  a  totally 
different  nature.  Henry  Perry  prepared  the  Egluryn  at  the  request 
of  his  patron,  Sir  John  Salesbury,  of  Lleweni,  who  probably  shared 
in  the  expense  of  its  publication.  There  are  prefixed  to  this  work 
verses  in  Greek,  Latin,  English,  and  Welsh,  in  praise  of  the  author, 
by  David  Roberts  (son  of  Robert  Morris,  and  brother  of  Lewis 
Anwyl,  of  Park,  in  Merionethshire),  Henry  Holland,  William 
Middleton,  Ludowic  Lloyd,  William  Matthew,  William  Parkins, 
Hugh  Lewis,  and  Henry  Salesbury.  Dr.  Davies,  in  his  Grammar, 
page  213,  has  this  note  in  reference  to  Henry  Perry's  work  :  "  De 
figuris  syntaxces  Consule  Wilhelmi  Salisburie,  Rhetoricaem  ab 

1  In  Bishop  Humphreys'  Additions  p.  252,  he  states,  on  the  authority  of 
Henry  Perry's  son-in-law,  that  he  was  hotn  in  Flintshire.  -  At  hen  :  Oxoii :  i., 
p.  252.  3  Cambrian  Register,  1795,  p.  156. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Henrico  Ferris  interpolatam  et  in  lucem  editam."  Two  editions 
have  since  appeared,  one  in  1805-7  in  the  Greal,  and  the  other 
in  1829. 

Dr.  John  Davies  states  in  his  preface  to  Dictionarium 
Britannico-Latinum  that  he  was  indebted  amongst  others,  whom 
he  names,  to  Henry  Perry,  the  reference  to  whom  is  as  follows : 
"  Henricus  Perrius  vir  Linguarum  cognitione  insignis"  from 
which  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude,  as  Wood  and  Canon  Williams 
have  done,  that  Perry  had  left  in  manuscript  or  other  form  a 
Welsh  Dictionary,  which  the  learned  rector  of  Mallwyd  had  found 
useful  in  the  compilation  of  his  important  work.  Henry  Perry 
died  in  1617,  for  under  the  date  December  3oth  of  that  year 
Bishop  Humphreys  records  that  one  "  William  Hill  was  installed 
to  the  canonry  at  Bangor,  then  void  by  the  death  of  Henry  Perry."  I 

Dr.  Davies  also  mentions  his  indebtedness  to  Henry 
Salesbury,  whom  he  styles  "  Henricus  Salesburius,  artium 
Magister  Oxoniensis,  medicus  etiam  doctis  annumerandus." 
Henry  Salesbury  was  a  noted  physician  and  antiquary  who  be- 
longed to  a  branch  of  the  ancient  Salesbury  family  of  Lleweni,  and 
was  born  at  Dolbelider,  in  Denbighshire,  in  1561.  He  was  entered 
as  a  commoner  at  St.  Alban's  Hall,  Oxford,  in  1581,  and  after 
taking  a  degree  in  arts,  he  proceeded  to  study  medicine,  and  after- 
wards settled  in  practice  at  Denbigh.  The  "History  of  Oxford 
Writers  "  describes  him  as  an  "  eminent  physician  and  a  curious 
critic  especially  in  the  Antiquities  and  Language  of  his  country." a 
His  only  published  work  is  a  Welsh  Grammar,  entitled  Grammatica 
Britannica,  which  was  printed  in  London  in  1593,  and  dedicated 
to  Henry,  Earl  of  Pembroke.  He  had  also  compiled  a  Welsh- 
Latin  Dictionary,  which  was,  however,  never  published,  but  which 
came  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  John  Davies,  who  acknowledges  the 
use  he  made  of  it.  Henry  Salesbury  was  a  fellow  townsman  and 
contemporary  of  Hugh  Holland.3 

Hugh  Lloyd,  a  native  of  Lleyn,  in  Carnarvonshire,  was  a 
most  admired  grammarian,  who  died  in  the  early  part  of  the  1 7th 

1  Humphreys'  Additions,  p.  252.     *Athen  :  Oxon  :  i.,  pp.  226-7.     ^Ancient 
and  Modern  Denbigh,  p.  204. 

304 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

century.  He  had  been  educated  at  Winchester  School,  and  after- 
wards became  Fellow  of  New  College,  Oxford,  in  1564.  In  1578 
he  was  made  Chancellor  of  Rochester,  being  then  B.C.L.1  He 
afterwards  proceeded  to  his  old  school  as  Master,  and  was  esteemed 
for  his  profouud  knowledge  of  the  Classics,  and  of  Divinity  and 
Civil  Law.  In  1588  he  took  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  at  Oxford,  his 
brother,  John  Lloyd,  Fellow  of  All  Souls,  and  Judge  of  the 
Admiralty,  also  taking  the  same  distinction.  He  died  in  1601. 
One  of  his  printed  works  is  entitled  "  Phrases  Elegantiorcs  ex 
Csesaris  Commentariis,  Cicerone  Aliisque,  in  usum  Scholar 
Winton."  This  was  published  at  Oxford  in  1654,  more  than  half 
a  century  after  his  death. 

Owen  Price,  a  native  of  Montgomeryshire,  was  put  in  as 
Scholar  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  by  the  Parliamentary  Visitors  in 
i648,2  and  remained  there  four  years,  when  he  was  called  to  the 
charge  of  a  public  school  in  Wales,  and  there  he  taught  Pres- 
byterian principles.  In  1655  he  returned  to  Oxford  and  became 
Student  of  Christ  Church.  He  took  degrees  in  Arts,  and  was 
made  Master  of  the  Free  School,  near  Magdalen  College.  His 
acknowledged  skill  in  teaching  drew  many  youths  to  the  school. 
He  was  ejected  at  the  Restoration,  and  afterwards  taught  school 
in  Devonshire  and  other  places.  He  was  a  noted  professor  in  the 
art  of  pedagogy,  and  his  publications  deal  with  the  teaching  of 
orthography,  in  which  branch  of  grammar  he  had  made  himself 
an  expert.  In  1665  he  published  "  The  Vocal  Orga/i,  a  new  art 
of  teaching  orthography  by  observing  the  instruments  of  pronun- 
ciation." This  was  followed  in  1670  by  "English  Orthography." 
Owen  Price  died  in  1671. 

Nicholas  Lloyd  was  born  at  Holton,  in  Flintshire,  educated 
at  Winchester  School,  admitted  Scholar  of  Wadham  College, 
Oxford,  from  Hart  Hall,  1653,  aged  nineteen,  and  afterwards 
became  Fellow  of  his  College  and  M.A.  In  1665,  when  the 
Warden  of  that  College  was  raised  to  the  See  of  Oxford,  Lloyd 

'Athcn:  Oxon  :  i.,    pp.   268-9.     'ibid,  ii.,   p.  490;  Williams'  Eminent 
Welshmen^  p.  417. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

became  his  chaplain,  being  at  that  time  Rector  of  St.  Martin's, 
Oxford.  He  was  subsequently  preferred  by  the  same  Bishop, 
Dr.  Blandford,  in  1672,  to  the  Rectory  of  Newington  St.  Mary, 
near  Lambeth,  in  Surrey,  and  remained  there  until  his  death  in 
1680.  He  wrote  : 

"  Dictionarium  Historicum,  Geographicum,  Poeticum,  gentium, 

hominum,  deorum  gentilium,  regionum,  insularum,  locorum, 

civitatum,  &c.,    ad  sacras  et  profanas  historias,  poetarumq. ; 

fabulas  intelligendas  necessaria,   nomina,  quo  decet  ordine, 

complectens  et  illustrans,  &c.     Oxon.   1670.  folio.'' 

This  was  mostly  taken  from  the  Dictionaries  of  Car.  Stephanas  and 

Phil.  FerrariusS      Lloyd,  who  was  a  profound  scholar  and  great 

reader,   afterwards  made  numerous  additions  to  this  work,   with 

many  corrections,  and  the  second  edition,  published  in  London 

in    1686,   after  the  author's  death,   and    to  which    was   added  a 

Geographical  Index,  was  considered  a  very  valuable  work. 

Mr.  Nicholas  Lloyd  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  his  church 
at  Newington,  and  left  behind  him,  Wood  remarks,  "  the 
character  of  a  harmless,  quiet  man,  and  of  an  excellent 
Philologist." * 

Edward  Stradling  was  the  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Stradling, 
Knight,  by  Catherine  his  wife,  and  was  born  in  the  ancient  home 
of  the  Stradlings,  at  St.  Donat's  Castle,  in  Glamorganshire, 
educated  at  Oxford,  but  left  before  taking  a  degree,  and  travelled 
widely  on  the  Continent.  He  spent  some  time  at  Rome,  and  on 
his  return  settled  on  his  patrimony  and  devoted  himself  to  letters. 
In  1575  he  was  knighted,  and  became  a  magistrate  of  his  county, 
where  he  devoted  himself  to  many  works  for  the  public  good. 
He  was  above  all  noted  for  his  singular  knowledge  of  the  Welsh 
language  and  his  depth  of  antiquarian  lore.  He  was  also  one  of 
the  foremost  men  of  his  age  in  encouraging  literature  and  men  of 
letters,  and  noted  for  his  indefatigable  industry  in  collecting 
ancient  manuscripts.  The  library  at  St.  Donats  added  greatly  to 
the  credit  and  renown  of  that  place  and  family.  He  is  reputed 

lAthcn  ;  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  670.     2ibid,  p.  671, 
306 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

to  have  written  a  Welsh  Grammar,1  written  mostly  in  Latin,  .and 
Wood  gives  the  following  quotation  concerning  this  work  from  the 
pen  of  "one  of  his  Countrymen,"  whose  name  he  does  not 
mention  :  "  Hae  institutions  Grammaticae  adeo  concinne  sunt 
compositae,  et  omnibus  suis  numeris  absolutae,  ut  nee  eis  addi 
quicquam,  nee  ab  eis  demi,  (meo  judicio),  quicquam  poterit ;  nisi 
secundum  hujus  operis  author  in  posterum  editionem  maturet." 

He  also  wrote  "  The  Winning  of  the  Lordship  of  Glamorgan 
or  Morgannwc  out  of  the  Welshmen's  hands,  &c.,"  a  book  which 
is  mentioned  in  Towel's  History  of  Cambria. 

He  died  in  1609,  aged  80  or  more,"2  and  was  huried  in  the 
chapel  built  by  his  father  and  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  adjoining 
the  parish  church  of  St.  Donats'.  He  died  without  male  issue,  so 
the  estate  passed  to  his  next  kinsman,  Sir  John  Stradling,  Kt.,  who 
in  1 6 1  r  was  created  baronet.  From  the  latter  was  descended  Sir 
Edward  Stradling,  Bart.,  who  was  prominent  in  the  Civil  War  as  a 
Colonel  in  Charles  I.'s  Army,  and  who  was  buried  at  Jesus  College 
Chapel  in  1644. 

Dr.  John  Dafydd  Rhys  (1534 — ?  1617)  was  born  at  Llan- 
faethlu,  in  Anglesey,  where  his  father,  Dafydd  Rhys,  was  in  the 
service  of  Sir  William  Grufiydd,  of  Garreg  Lwyd.  His  mother 
had  been  maid  to  Jane  Stradling  (one  of  the  St.  Donat's  family), 
who  had  married  Sir  William  Gruffydd.  He  entered  Oxford  in 
1552,  and  was  elected  Student  of  Christ  Church  in  1555,  in  his 
twenty-  first  year.  3  He  afterwards  travelled  on  the  Continent,  and 
went  to  the  University  of  Sienna  in  Tuscany,  where  there  was  a 
noted  medical  school,  and  where  he  became  a  doctor  in  that 
faculty.  He  was  afterwards  Moderator  of  the  school  at  Pistoria, 
in  Tuscany.  Wood  informs  us  that  he  understood  the  Italian 
language  "  as  well  as  any  native."  He  afterwards  returned  to 
England  and  practised  medicine  with  great  success.  He  was  also 
held  in  high  esteem  by  the  learned  men  of  his  day  for  his  skill  as 
a  poet  and  grammarian.  In  particular,  he  studied  his  own  native 
tongue,  and  was  one  of  the  most  talented  bards  and  prose  writers 
\  Oxon\  i.,  pp.  299-300.  =ibid.  3 ibid,  p.  304, 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

of  his  time.  His  capacity  as  a  linguist  is  seen  in  his  work  entitled 
Rules  for  the  obtaining  of  the  Latin  Tongue,  which  was  written  in 
Italian,  and  printed  at  Venice.  This  was  followed  by  a  Latin 
work,  De  Italics  Lingua  Prom/ntiatione,  printed  at  Padua.  The 
best  tribute  to  the  work  was  that  the  Italians  themselves  thought 
highly  of  it. 

His  greatest  and  most  useful  work  for  his  own  country  was 
the  publication  in  1592  of  a  Welsh  Grammar,  written  in  Latin, 
and  entitled  Cambro-Britanniac  Cymraecxve  Lingua  Instiittiones 

et  Rudimenta ad  intelligend.  Biblia   sacra  nuper  in 

Cambro-Briftannicum  sermomim  eleganter  versa.    London,  1592. 

This  book,  which  contains  the  rules  of  Welsh  prosody,  was 
printed  at  the  expense  of  Sir  Edward  Stradling,  and  is  remarkable 
for  its  wealth  of  illustrations  from  the  old  bards.  The  author  was 
an  apt  versifier  himself,  and  often  supplied  original  examples  of 
his  own  to  explain  a  rule  of  prosody.  The  preface  of  this  book 
is  in  Welsh,  and  it  is  written  in  a  novel  orthography.  The 
alphabet  used  contains  31  letters,  which  represent  every  sound  in 
the  Welsh  language.  Every  digraph  is  formed  by  means  of  the 
letter//;  thus  //  is  written  Ih ;  dd,  dh.  &c.;  and  he  also  uses 
bh  for/,  the  mutated  form  of  b.  He  has  two  separate  characters 
to  distinguish  the  two  different  sounds  of  y.  There  is  a  preface 
to  this  Grammar,  written  by  Humphrey  Prichard,  of  Bangor, 
sometime  an  Oxford  scholar. 

Thomas  Williams,  commonly  known  amongst  his  con- 
temporaries as  Sir  Thomas  ap  William,1  was  a  learned  lexico- 
grapher and  physician.  He  was  a  Carnarvonshire  man,  and  was 
born  at  Ardde'r  Myneich,  at  the  foot  of  Snowdon.3  He  was 
educated  at  Brazenose  College,  Oxford,  where  he  proceeded  to  his 
M.A.  degree  in  1573,  and  afterwards  undertook  the  study  of 
medicine,  graduating  in  that  faculty.  He  was  an  excellent 
pedigrean,  and  engaged  in  a  very  extensive  work  of  this  nature, 
entitled  Frif  AcJiau  holl  Gymru  Benbaladr,  He  began  it  in 

1  Humphreys'  Additions  t  p.  266.  3  Williiams'  Eminent  Welshmen^  pp. 
537-8. 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

1578,  added  to  it  in  1585,  and  further  enlarged  it  in  1609.      It 
was  not,  however,  printed. 

Another  work,  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  amongst 
Welsh  scholars,  was  his  Lexicon  Latino -Britannicum,  1604-08,  a 
most  invaluable  contribution  to  knowledge,  and  involving  the 
most  painstaking  research.  It  is  enriched  by  copious  extracts 
from  manuscript  authorities,  and  is  contained  in  three  quarto 
volumes,  which  form  part  of  the  valuable  Hengwrt  Library.  Dr. 
John  Davies  made  considerable,  but  nothing  like  exhaustive,  use 
of  this  work  in  Part  II.  of  his  Dictionary,  that  entitled  Latino- 
Britannicum,  which  is  but  a  bare  index  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams' 
great  work. 

Another  work  by  this  author,  known  as  Llyfr  Prophwydol- 
iacthau  Cymraeg  a  Saesneg  a  Lladin,  o  law  Sir  Thomas  Williams, 
also  forms  part  of  the  Hengwrt  collection  of  manuscripts. 

The  title  Sir  prefixed  to  Thomas  Williams'  name  has 
reference,  perhaps,  to  his  clerical  vocation.  It  is  thought  that, 
besides  being  a  medical  practitioner,  he  was  curate  of  Trefriw. 
In  the  Bishop  of  Bangor's  Visitation ;  1573,  there  is  a  record  of 
Sir  Thomas  ap  William  of  Trefriw.1  There  is  also  a  record  that 
Thomas  Williams,  of  Trefriw,  who  was  reputed  to  be  a  Papist, 
was  proceeded  against  at  Bangor,  May  23rd.  1606,  the  entry  being, 
"  T/iomas  Williams  de  Trefriw  eo  quod  rccusat  venire  ad  Ecclesiam? 
and  in  1607,  "  Ds  Tfos  Wrns  recusans  excommunicatur."'2 

Dr.  Davies  makes  some  acknowledgment  of  his  indebtedness 
to  Thomas  Williams  in  his  preface  to  his  Dictionary,  1632,  in  the 
following  words :  "  Parturierunt  multi,  insignes  quidem  illi 

magnique  viri &  prae  omnibus  Thomas  Gufie/mus, 

medicus  apud  suos  clarus,  qui  sequens  Latino -Brit,  congessit." 

The  year  of  Thomas  Williams'  death  is  not  known.  He 
wrote  a  letter  to  Sir  John  Wynn,  of  Gwydyr,  after  October 
2ist,  1620.3  The  latter  in  his  correspondence  with  him, 

1  Bishop  Humphreys  in  his  Additions  to  Wood's  Athen<e,  p.  266,  thinks  it 
likely  that  he  was  curate  of  Trefriw.  2  ibid,  p.  266.  3  Cambrian  Register, 
1795.  P-  159- 

309 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

in  a  letter  written  on  that  date,  to  which  Thomas  Williams  replied, 
but  left  his  letter  undated,  signs  himself  "  yr  loving  coyson,  John 
Wynn."  His  death  had  occurred  before  Dr.  Davies  wrote  the 
preface  to  his  Dictionary,  vrhich  is  dated  Ultimo  Maij,  1632,  for 
he  states  that  all  those,  whose  works  he  had  consulted  and  used 
for  its  compilation,  were  dead  with  the  sole  exception  of  Henry 
Salesbury  :  "  Apud  hos  cum  opus  in  fermento  tam  diu  jacuisset, 
quoad  mors  omnes  prseter  unum  Hen.  Sal.  mutare  nimis 
abduxisset." 

Dr.  Davies  mentions  the  second  part  of  his  Dictionary  as  that 
in  which  he  was  most  indebted  to  Thomas  Williams,  and  states 
that  he  himself  was  entirely  responsible  for  the  first :  "  Alterum 
Latino-Brit,  illud  Thomce  Guil.  Lexicon,  ab  ipso  multorum 
annorum  labore  collectum  &  descriptum,  &  nunc  mea  opera 
castigatum  &  evulgatum ;  Alterum  Britannico-Lat.  mea  ipsius 
industria  elaboratum." 

Bishop  Humphreys  relates  a  story  that  Thomas  Williams  tried 
to  dissuade  Sir  John  Wynn,  of  Gwydyr,  from  attending  the 
Parliament  of  James  I.,  when  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was  discovered, 
from  which  it  was  concluded  that  he  had  knowledge  of  that 
conspiracy,  and  was  afterwards  suspected  of  being  a  Papist.1 

Dr.  John  Davies,  of  Mallwyd,  was  born  at  Llanferres,  in 
Denbighshire,  about  1570,  and  was  the  son  of  Dafydd  ab  loan, 
of  Llanrhaiadr,  in  that  county,  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Lewis  David  Lloyd.2  He  states  that  Robert  Vaughan,  of 
Hengwrt,  the  noted  antiquary,  was  his  cousin.  He  was  educated 
at  Ruthin,  in  what  school  is  not  certain,  but  it  was  at  the  institu- 
tion in  which  Bishop  Richard  Parry  was  one  of  the  masters.3 
There  was,  probably,  a  secondary  school  at  Ruthin  before  Gabriel 
Goodman  founded  his  Grammar  School  in  1590.  In  the  preface 
to  his  Dictionary,  Dr.  Davies  states  that  Bishop  Morgan  was  also 
one  of  those  to  whose  instruction  he  was  indebted,  although  he 
does  not  definitely  state  when  and  where  it  was  imparted.  His 

'Humphreys'  Additions,  p.   266.     2ibid,  p.  509.     3 Williams'  Eminent 
Welshmen,  p.  105. 

310 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

reference  to  that  great  scholar  reads  as  follows:  "Guilielmus 
Morganus  SS.  Th.  D.  Cantabrigiensis,  sacne  Scripturse  in  Linguam 
Brit,  interpres  fidelissmus,  Ecclesiae  primum  Landauensis,  dein 
Asaphensis  Prsesul  vigilantissimus,  cujus  mihi  semper  dulcissimum 
in  ore  versatur  nomen,  vt  ad  cujus  Gamalielis  pedes  sum 
educatus." 

In  1589  he  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,1  as  Student  and 
took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1594,  and  little  is  known  of  him  for  the 
next  few  years,  except  that  he  was  ordained  in  1594,  and  "studied 
Divinity  in  the  country." 2  It  is  evident  that  he  had  assisted 
Bishop  Morgan  with  the  translation  of  the  Bible  prior  to  going 
to  Oxford.  In  the  interval  (1594-1604)  he  married  Jane, 
daughter  of  John  Wynn,  of  Llwyn  Ynn,  the  sister  of  Bishop 
Parry's  wife.  In  1604  James  I.  preferred  him  to  the  living  of 
Mallwyd.  That  was  the  year  in  which  Bishop  Parry  was  con- 
secrated Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and  possibly  Dr.  Davies  was 
presented  to  Mallwyd  through  his  influence,  for  about  this  time 
he  had  been  acting  as  his  chaplain.  In  1608  he  again  returned 
to  Oxford,  and  "  was  admitted  to  the  reading  of  the  Sentences, "3 
as  a  member  of  Lincoln  College,  having  been  fourteen  years, 
as  Wood  informs  us,  "  minister  of  God's  Word,  and  dispensed 
with  for  not  ruling  in  Arts."  On  his  return  from  Oxford,  in  1612, 
he  was  appointed,  by  the  gift  of  Bishop  Parry,  to  a  Canonry  at 
St.  Asaph.  In  1613  he  became  Rector  of  Llanymawddwy,  and 
and  in  1615  Sinecure  Rector  of  Darowen,  which  he  afterwards 
exchanged  for  Llanfawr  or  Llanfor,  near  Bala.  In  1617  he  also 
exchanged  the  canonry  of  St.  Asaph  for  the  prebendship  of 
Llannefydd,  in  the  same  diocese.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  he 
was  one  of  the  most  notable  pluralists  of  his  time,  but  not  all 
have  been  so  deserving.  In  1616  he  had  proceeded  to  a 
doctorate  in  the  faculty  of  Theology  at  Oxford.4  Wood  states 
that  in  1626  there  was  "one  John  Davies  a  Doctors  son  admitted 
Bachelor  of  Arts,  as  a  member  of  Gloucester  Hall,  which  I  take 
to  be  the  son  of  Dr.  John  Davies  before  mentioned."  Bishop 

i Athen  \0xon:  i.,  p,  519.    Mbid,    3ibid.    4ibid. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Humphreys,  however,  shows  that  Wood's  surmise  was  incorrect. 
Dr.  Davies  died  without  issue,  and  left  his  estate  to  his  own  and 
his  wife's  nephew.  (See  Cambrian  Register,  1795,  p.  158). 

In  1621  Dr.  Davies  published  his  Welsh  Grammar,  written 
in  Latin,  and  entitled  :  Antiqua  Lingua.  Btitannica,  nunc 
communiter  dictae  Cambro-Britannicae,  a  suis  Cymrsecse,  ab  alijo 
Wallicre,  Rudimenta  :  Juxta  genuinam  naturalemque  ipsius  Linguae 
Proprietatum,  qua  fieri  potuit  accurata  Methodo  et  Brevitate 
conscripta. 

Londini,  apud  Johannem  Billium  Typographum  Regium. 
1621." 

It  is  a  book  very  rich  in  quotations  from  the  old  bards,  and 
has  fallen  under  criticism1  because  it  contains  none  from  prose 
literature.  Gweirydd  ap  Rhys  states  that  he  failed  to  find  a  single 
prose  quotation  in  the  whole  book.  It  is  an  octavo  volume,  and 
was  printed  in  London. 

The  following  quotation  from  his  Grammar,  taken  from  the 
early  part  of  the  book,  dealing  with  Welsh  diphthongs,  will  serve 
to  illustrate  the  plan  and  method  of  this  work  : 

"  Prseterea,    diphthongorum    nonnullse    apud    poetas    srepe 
dirimuntur, 

Ae,  Cymraeg  laes-deg  o  lys  dyffrynt.     Cyn. 
A  bran  dda  ei  chymraeg 
A'r  lleuad  aur  a'r  Haw  dtg.     LI.  M.  T. 
Eglwys  yw  fal  glas  iaen 
A  drws  y  porth  dros  y  pen.     D.  G.  i  Jielm"  * 
In  the  same  year  he  also  published  A  Catechism. 

In  1632  he  published  his  Welsh -Latin  Dictionary  and  Latin- 
Welsh  Dictionary,  in  one  book.  This  was  the  standard  dictionary 
of  the  language  for  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  until  Dr. 
Pughe's  Welsh -English  Dictionary  was  published  in  1803.  Never- 
theless, it  was  a  very  scanty  work,  and  it  seems,  according  to  his 
own  statement,  the  time  the  learned  Doctor  bestowed  upon  it  was 

1  Hanes  Llenyddiaeth  Gymreigt  p.  413.     3  Antiy*  Ling.  Brit.  p.  39. 

312 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

only  what  he  could  snatch  from  other  works,  which  he  considered 
of  more  importance.     The  title-page  is  as  follows  : 

Antique  j  Lingua;  Britannicje,  |  Nunc  vulgo  dicta?  Cambro- 

Britannicae,   |  A   suis   Cymraecae  vel   Camricse,    |   Ab   aliis 

Wallicas,    j    et    |   Linguae  Latinae,   |   Dictionarium  Duplex.  | 

Prius,  |  Britannico-Latinum,   Plurimis   |   venerandae  antiqui- 

tatis    Britannicae    |    monumentis    respersum.    |    Posterius,  | 

Latino    Britannicum.  |  Accesserunt    Adagia    Britannica    & 

plura  &  |  emendatiora  quam  antehac  edita.  |  Psal.   122.  9   | 

[quoted  in   Hebrew]  |  Ecclus  .33.  1 7  &   24.  34.  |  [quoted  in 

Greek].     [An  illustration  with  the  motto  Cor  Unum  via  una 

inscribed.]  Londini,  |  Impress,  in  a;dibus  R.  Young,  Impensis 

Joan.  |  Davies  SS.  Th.  D.    An.  Dom.  1632. 

The  History  of  Oxford   Writers  informs  us  that  the  Latino- 

Britannicum  part  of  this  work  "was  in  a  manner   finished   by 

Thomas  Williams,  a  Physician,  before  the  year  1600.     Afterwards 

completed  and  published  by  Dr.  Davies.     I  have  been  informed 

that   in   the   Library   of   MSS.    sometime   belonging  to    Robert 

Vaughan,  of  Hengwrt,  in  Merionethshire,  is  a  Welsh  Dictionary 

that  contains  about  2,000  words  more  than  in  the  former. " ' 

Of  Dr.  Davies,   Wood  writes :  "  He  was   esteemed   by  the 

Academicians  [of  Lincoln  College]  well  versed  in  the  History  and 

Antiquities  of  his  own  nation  and  in  the   Greek   and   Hebrew 

languages,  a  most  exact  Critick,  an  indefatigable  searcher  into 

ancient  scripts,  and  well  acquainted  with  curious  and  rare  authors.') 

The  Dictionary  is  dedicated  :  "  Illustrissimo  Domino  Carolo 

Principi    Walliae,    &c.      Serenissimi    Caroli   Magnae    Britanniae, 

Franciae,  &  Hiberniae  Regis  Filio  vnico  &  Haeredi,"  and  proceeds  : 

"  Nee    opportunius    quicquam,  Princeps   Illustrissime,  huic 

potuit  accidere  Lexico,  quam  quod  temporum  &  opportunitatum 

Moderatoris  vnici  beneficio,  Te  jam  parvulo  ad  prcelium  exornetur. 

Sic  enim  &  Celsitudo  Tua,  si  tenerioris  aetatis  curatoribus  ita  visum 

fuerit,  a  cunis  simul  cum  alijs  Linguis,  Antiquam  etiam  hanc  hujus 

Insulse  Linguam,  nunc  WTallise  tuae  peculiarem,  vel  imbibere,  vel 

1  Atkcnis  Oxonietucs,  i.,  p.  519. 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

quse  saltern  qualisque  sit  cognoscere  poterit.  Nee  enim  Princi- 
pibus  indigna  Linguarum  cognitio :  Imb  Principibus  solenne 
semper  fuit  earum  studium  :  &  aliquo  modo  etiam  necessarium 
sibi  duxerunt,  populorum  quibus  aliquando  erant  imperaturi, 
linguas  ediscere.  Cujus  rei  nullum  extat  illustrius  nobiliusue 
exemplum,  quam  Mithridatis  Ponti  &  Bithyniae  regis,  qui  viginti 
duorum  quibus  imperabat  populorum  linguas  probe  calluit, 
eosque  baud  vnquam  per  Interpretes  alloquutus  est.  Sic  etiam  & 
Operi  huic  a  me  consultum  erit  optime,  si  jam  recens  natum,  & 
ad  pedes  Tuos,  Illustrissime  Princeps,  prouolutum,  hilar!  fronte  in 
clientelam  suscipere  digneris.  Nam  ita  futurum  non  dubito  quin, 
me  mox  alib  (quod  anni  monent)  hinc  auocando,  illud  Tecum  per 
secula  senescat  multa ;  quoad  Patris  Serenissimi  Regna, 
Religionem,  Pietatem,  Fidei  Christiana?  defensionem,  post  annos 
complureis  ab  Ipso  fseliciter  agendos,  hgereditaria  Tibi  sumpseris 
successione,  eademque  filijs  nepotibusque,  bonis  auibus  olim 
aliquando  tradideris.  Quod  cum  sub  alis  Patrocinij  Tui  tamdiu 
incaluerit,  vires  acquisierit,  &  ad  validam  adoluerit  setatem,  illud 

Nee  poterit  ferrum,  nee  edax  abolere  vetustas  ; 
—  nee  imber  edax,  aut  aquilo  impotens 
Possit  diruere,  aut  innumerabilis 
Annorum  series  &  fuga  temporum  ;  ' 

sed  extreme  tandem  igni,  cum  terral  &  operibus  qua;  in  ea  sunt,2 
comburendum  conseruatibur.  Nee  est  quod  de  Tuo,  Illustrissime 
Princeps,  patrocinio  dubitem,  turn  quod  a  tanti  Principis  dementia 
alienissimum  sit  oporteat  vt  Diui  tutelaris  munus  non  prosstet 
petentibus,  turn  etiam  maxima  quod  ea  semper  fuerit  literarum 
dignitas,  vt  dicari  sibi  Principes  gloriosum  ducerent,  nee  vllum, 
quamuis  humillimum,  literarum  genus  fastidirent.  Nam  &  lulius 
Pollux  ad  Commodum  Caesarem  de  Grammatical,  Vitruvius  ad 
Augustum  de  Architecture,,  Oppianus  ad  Antonium  de  Piscibus, 
Diophanes  ad  Deio'tarum  Regem  de  Agricultural  scripserunt.  Nee 
I0vid.  Mttam.  Lib.  15.  tiortt  Cann.  Lib.  3  od.  vlt.  "  i  Pet.  3.  10. 


GRAMMAR   AND  LEXICOGRAPHY 

quod  vlli  vnquam  hominum  vitio  versum  est,  vt  lucubrationes  suas 
Principibus  consecrate  auderent,  sperare  licet  vitio  vertendum  mihi 
Celsitudini  Ture 
Deuotissimo 
Joan.  Davies 
SS.  Th.  D-" 

This  is  followed  by  the  preface  under  the  title  "  Ad  Lectorem 
Praefatio ;  ubi  de  Linguae  Britannicae  origine,  aliarumque 
Linguarum  ortu  &  mutatione."  In  this  he  pays  grateful  acknow- 
ledgment to  those  whose  works  had  helped  him  in  the  compilation, 
Bishop  William  Morgan,  Henry  Perry,  Henry  Salesbury,  and 
Thomas  Williams  have  been  already  mentioned  above.  He  also 
pays  tribute  to  William  Salesbury,  Dr.  David  Powel,  and  Dr.  John 
Dafydd  Rhys.  Of  the  first-named  he  writes:  "In  quorum 
omnium  gratiam  Witielmus  Salesburius,  de  Ecclesia  linguaque 
Brit,  vir  plurimum  meritus,  Dictionariolum  Anglo -Brit.  Regi 
Henrico  Octavo  approbatum  <Sc  dedicatum,  annoque  salutis 
humanoe  1547  impressum,  edidit."  His  praise  of  Dr.  David 
Powel  is  expressed  in  the  words :  "  Dauid  Pouelus  SS.  Th.  D. 
historiarum  Britannicarum  peritissimus,"  and  of  Dr.  J.  D.  Rhys, 
^Johannes  Dauid  Rhesus,  Doctor  medicus  Senensis  vere  doctus." 
His  attitude  towards  his  task  and  his  judgment  as  to  its  nature 
and  scope,  he  sets  forth  as  follows  :  "  Nee  tamen  istasc  tam  leui 
manu,  facilique  labore,  &  prorsus  dviSpiorl  me  comportasse 
existimes,  vt  lusisse  potius  quam  scripsisse  putes.  Arduo  enim, 
mihi  crede,  res  est  Lexicon  composuisse,  prjesertim  linguae 
alicujus  vulgaris,  quod  vel  preesenti  astati  facturum  sit  satis,  multo 
minus  secuturis.  Tantam  semper  exercuit,  perpetuum  exercebit, 
in  linguas  tyrannidem  misera  &  infcelix  Babelis  pcena,  vt  indies 
magis  magisque  non  in  Syria  sola,  sed  &  ubique  terrarum  con- 
fundantur," 

Then  follows  a  page  devoted  to  the  explanation  of  symbols 
and  abbreviations  used  in  the  work,  and  this  is  followed  by  two 
pages  of  Encomiastica,  which  are  all  in  Latin  verse,  the  writers 
being  lohan  Owen,  Episc.  Asaphen  ;  lohan.  Hoskins,  serviens  ad 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

legem,  lusticiar,  Westwall ;  Edwardi  Hughes,  Archidiac.  Bangor ; 
Guilielmus  Griffith,  Legum  Doctor,  Cancellarius  Dioecesium, 
Asaphensis  &r  Bangorensis  ;  Geo.  Griffith,  Ecclesiae  Cathedralis 
Asaphen.  Canonicus;  David  Davies,  Mannavonensis  In  Art,  Mag.; 
H.  Lloyd  ;  Tho.  Canon  Miles. 

The  Welsh -Latin  part  of  this  Dictionary  was  printed  in  1654 
at  Amsterdam  by  Boxhorn,  but  the  Hebrew  and  other  comparisons 
are  omitted  in  that  edition. 

The  Dictionary,  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  a  very  learned  work,  and 
gives  some  idea  of  the  profound  learning  of  its  author.  It  bears 
ample  testimony  to  Wood's  statement  that  he  was  steeped  in  the 
Classics  and  in  the  ancient  British  tongues,  and  also  shows  that 
he  had  a  considerable  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental 
languages.  The  following  will  serve  as  examples  of  his  treatment 
of  Welsh  and  Latin  words  respectively  : 

G  WEST  FA,  Hospitium,  inuitamentum.  IV.  S.  Luc.  20.  46. 
SttTrvovs  reddit  Gwestfaau.  Rheidus  a  gerddo  teirtref,  a  naw  ty 
ym  mhob  tref,  heb  gael  na  chardod  na  gwestfa,  er  ei  ddal  a'i  ladrad 
ymborth  gantho,  ni  chrogir.  K.  K.  Swydd  y  distain  yw  rhannu 
arian  y  gwestfaau.  K.  H.  Arian  y  gwestfaau,  Nummi  regalibus 
caenis  reddendi.  Videntur  fuisse  pecuniarum  summce  quas  subditi 
soluebant prindpi^  pro  eo  guodipsum  6°  suos  in  transits,  sua  quisque 
vice,  in  hospitium  excipere  tenebantur" 

"  PR^CIPITO,  ARE,  Bwrw  ben  dra  mwnwgl,  torrfyngylu, 
taflu  i  lawr  yn  ivysg  i  benn,  brysio  tie  a'r  diivedd,  givneuthur  peth 
yn  ddigyngor  ac  heb  ystyr,  prysuro,  cael  settling  gan  fry's,  avympo 
ben  dra  mwnwgl,  gogwyddo  tit  a'r  llawr." 

At  the  end  of  the  Dictionarium  Britannico-Latinum  is  a 
very  interesting  collection  of  the  Welsh  names  of  herbs  and  plants, 
with  their  Latin  equivalents,  under  the  title  Botatwlogium.  "  Dr. 
Thomas  Williams,  according  to  Bishop  Humphreys,  had  left  in 
MS.  a  pretty  large  Herbal  in  Latin,  Welsh,  and  English,  giving  an 
account  of  herbs  and  their  physical  virtues."1 

1  Humphreys'   Additions,   p.    266.       Perhaps   this,     as    well  as  T.  W.'s 
Dictionary,  had  come  into  Dr.   Davies'  hands. 


GRAMMAR  AND   LEXICOGRAPHY 

There  is  also  a  dedicatory  letter  introducing  the  second  part,  in 
which  he  pays  more  hearty  tribute  to  the  work  of  Thomas 
Williams  than  in  the  first  preface  :  "  Quod  Thomas  Guilielmus 
medicus,  Linguae  Britannicse  cultor  sedulus,  Patris  tui  Venerabilis, 
literarum  &  literatorum  Mecaenatis  benigni,  hortatu,  consilio, 
auxilio,  beneficentizl,  ante  annos  fere"  trigenta  perfecerat,  ipsiusque 
nomini  consecrare  instituerat,  Dictionarium  sequens  Latino- 
Britannicum  ;  jam  tandem,  trutinam  apud  me  seueriorem  passum, 
meisque  solius  impensis  excusam,  «Sc  Illustrissimi,  Principis  Caroli 
munitum  patroci'nio,  posthumum  tuo  sese  offert  conspectui." 

At  the  end  of  Dictionarium  Latino- Britannicum  he  gives  a 
collection  of  Welsh  proverbs  under  the  title  Adagia  Britannica, 
before  which  he  wrote  a  short  letter  to  the  Reader,  in  Latin  and 
Welsh.  The  latter  is  addressed  "  At  yr  hawddgar  Gymro."  He 
states  it  is  a  fuller  collection  of  Welsh  Proverbs  than  had  ever 
appeared  before,  and  marks  the  additions  with  an  asterisk.  He 
also  has  a  distinguishing  mark  for  those  whose  meaning  is  obscure. 
The  nucleus  for  his  collection,  he  obtained  from  a  work  which  he 
calls  Mad-waith  hen  Gyrys  o  Id/,  but  admits  his  ignorance  of  this 
author  and  the  time  in  which  he  flourished.  There  is  no  direct 
testimony  that  Thomas  Williams'  Diarhebion  came  into  his  hands, 
although  the  latter  had  sent  it  to  Sir  John  Wynn,  of  Gwydyr.  (See 
Note  at  end  of  chapter). 

These  are  followed  by  "  Y  Pedair  Camp  ar  hugain  "  which 
he  divides  into  "  deg  gwrolgamp,  deg  mabolgamp,  a  phedair  o'r 
gogampau." 

The  work  ends  with  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  British  poets 
and  writers,  and  the  dates  in  which  they  flourished,  under  the  title : 
"  Authorum  Britannicorum  nomina  &  quando  floruerint." 

Dr.  Davies'  work  in  translating  Edmund  Bunney's  adaptation 
of  Robert  Parsons'  Christian  Directory  under  the  title  Llyfr  y 
Resolution,  has  already  been  noticed,  as  also  his  last  work  issued 
in  1633  and  entitled  Y  Llyfr  Ply  gain  a>  Cattiechism* 


WALES  IN   THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

He  died  in  1644,*  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  Mallwyd 
Church,  where  there  exists  to  his  memory  a  mural  tablet  of  white 
marble  containing  a  long  Latin  inscription.  This  tablet  has  not 
been  disturbed  during  the  recent  restoration  of  that  venerable 
fabric.  Bishop  Humphreys  informs  us  that  Dr.  Davies,  was  "  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  an  useful  magistrate,  and  universally 
beloved  and  esteemed  in  his  county.  He  built  three  bridges  at 
his  own  charge,  and  did  other  charities  at  Mallwyd  where  he  lived. 
He  left  his  estate  in  land,  to  be  divided  between  a  nephew  of  his 
own,  and  a  son  of  Bishop  Parry's,  his  wife's  nephew."  2 

NOTE  :  The  story  of  Dr.  Davies'  use  of  Dr.  Thomas  Williams' 
Dictionary  is  of  considerable  interest,  and  some  correspondence 
on  the  subject  between  Sir  John  Wynn,  of  Gwydyr,  and  Thomas 
Williams,  in  the  first  place,  and  between  the  former  and  Dr. 
Davies,  of  Mallwyd,  in  the  second,  throws  a  great  deal  of  light  on 
the  subject,  Sir  John  Wynn  had  written  to  Thomas  Williams, 
advising  him  how  he  might  get  the  work  printed,3  and  asking  him 
to  send  him  his  copy  of  the  Diarhebion,  which  Salesbury  (pre- 
sumably William  Salesbury)  had  lost,  and  which,  apparently  now 
re-written,  Sir  John  offered  to  print.  Thomas  Williams  replied  : 
"  For  the  Latine  and  Cambrian  Dictionarie,  wcl?  with  great  laboure 
and  travayle,  as  God  knoweth,  I  have  congested  and  digested  these 
fiftie  years,  I  see  very  small  surtie  [surety]  or  consideration  for  my 
paynes,  and  therefore  I  mean  not  in  hast."  * 

He  added  that  he  had  never  received  any  quid  pro  quo  for 
any  of  his  work,  and  resumed,  "  God  doth  know  that  in  the  4 
years  while  I  did  write  the  Dictionaries,  I  was  so  instant  to  the 
work  that  often  when  I  came  from  the  book  I  did  not  know- 
many  a  time  what  day  of  the  week  it  was,  and  soe  lost  my  practis 
that  might  have  been  a  hundred  pounds  unto  me  ....  and 
during  that  time  I  might  have  pined  for  hunger  yf  it  hath  not  been 
for  God  and  yr  Worships  good  considerations  and  not  to  these 

1  He  died  about  May  isth  in  that  year.  Bishop  Humphreys  states  in  his 
Additions  that  his  prebendship  was  disposed  of  on  May  a8th,  vacant  by  his 
death,  p.  509.  *  Cambrian  Register,  1795,  p.  158.  3  ibid,  p.  159.  «ibid, 
p.  160. 

318 


GRAMMAR  AND  LEXICOGRAPHY 

illiberal  men's  liberalities.  The  book  of  Diarhebion  y  wor.  shall 
see  by  the  bearer,  gathered  of  2  or  3  several  copies  and  made  as 
large  as  the  former  copy  lost  ....  I  beseech  you  keep  the  book 
de  Statibits." 

It  is  evident  that  afterwards  an  understanding  was  arrived  at 
concerning  the  Dictionary,  and  it  came  into  Sir  John  Wynn's 
possession.  Correspondence  between  him  and  Dr.  John  Davies 
proves  this.  It  will  be  found  in  the  pages  of  the  Cambrian 
Register,  1796.  Dr.  Davies  had  ascertained  that  Sir  John  Wynn 
had  the  Dictionary,  and  he  writes  :  "  I  have  long  been  desirous, 
as  I  think  it  is  not  unknown  to  you,  to  see  my  good  old  friend 
Sir  Thomas  ap  William  his  Dictionary  ;  not  so  much  for  any 
excellent  perfection,  I  could  conceive  to  be  in  the  work,  as  for  the 
great  pains  I  know  the  author  had  taken  to  gather  it,  and,  whom, 
my  cousin  Robert  Vaughan  tells  me,  you  are  pleased,  I  shall  have 
the  book,  upon  condition,  I  shall  see  it  printed  ;  and  ascribe  all 
the  glory  to  Thomas  ap  William,  and  dedicate  it  unto  you." ' 

Sir  John  Wynn  sent  him  the  manuscript,  but  for  some 
reason  Dr.  John  Davies  never  fulfilled  either  of  these  conditions. 
His  own  Dictionary  he  dedicated  to  Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  as 
we  have  seen,  and  although  he  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  for 
Part  II.  of  his  Dictionary  to  Thomas  Williams,  he  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  "  ascribed  all  the  glory  of  it  "  to  him.  He  certainly 
did  qualify  his  promise  to  Sir  John  Wynn  with  two  ifs.  "  If  I 
shall  see  it  fit  for  the  press,  I  will  acquaint  you  therewith."  .... 
"7/"the  author  have  dedicated  to  you,  his  dedication  shall  stand." 
He  makes  it  plain  to  Sir  John  that  he  will  not  bear  the  expense 
of  publication — "  I  know  you  will  not  expect  I  shall  be  at  any 
charge,"  and  in  a  second  letter  he  reiterates  this  :  "  Now  who 
shall  bear  that  charge  is  the  first  thing  to  be  considered."  He 
goes  on  to  mention  the  need  of  corrections  "  in  divers  places," 
and  adds  :  "  What  authority  I  shall  have  over  it,  lieth  in  your 
pleasure." 

The  Dictionary,  it  would  appear,   was  in  his  possession  some 

i  Cambrian  Register,  1796,  p.  470. 

3*9 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

considerable  time,  for  there  is  evidence  that  Sir  John  Wynn  grew 
uneasy  either  about  its  return,  or  because  of  the  delay  in  printing 
it.  Dr.  Davies  in  his  third  letter  to  him,  which  is  evidently  a 
reply,  states  :  "  As  for  the  Dictionary,  I  am  neither  forgetful  of  it, 
nor  less  than  abashed,  that  I  kept  it  so  long,  and  could  do  so 

little  good  in  it Before  you  wished  me  to  get  it  copied 

verbatim,  I  had  thought,  as  I  writ  before,  to  go  over  it  by 
abbreviating  and  correcting  it :  But,  understanding  your  pleasure, 
I  went  no  further  in  that  course,  and,  according  to  your  will,  I  got 
some  to  copy  it  by  parts.  I  saw  their  copying  of  it  would  do  no 
good ;  and  now  it  lieth  by  me,  and  do  nothing  to  it,  till  I  know 
your  further  pleasure.  I  send  you  herein  enclosed  the  last  sheet 
of  the  copy  you  wished  to  be  made,  being  the  best  and  truest  that 
is  written.'' 

This  ends  the  correspondence  with  Sir  John  Wynn,  and  it  is 
dated,  "Malloid,  15°  Maii,  1625." 

But  there  is  a  further  letter  written  by  Dr.  Davies  to  Mr. 
Owen  Wynn,  of  Gwydyr.  Apparently  Sir  John  Wynn  had  died 
in  the  meantime,  and  Dr.  Davies  writes :  "  Upon  your  good 
father's  desire,  I  undertook  the  review  of  the  Welsh  Dictionary  of 
Sir  Thomas  ap  William,  but  I  dwelt  so  far  from  your  worthy  father, 
and  my  then  troubles  occasioned  by  Mr.  Pigot  [the  man  who  had 
delayed  the  delivery  of  the  MS.  from  Sir  John  Wynn  to  Dr.  Davies] 
hindered  my  repair  to  him  .  .  .  else  it  had  been  ready  long  ago. 

I  began  upon  it  April  last  [i.e.  April,  1626]  among  other 

my  many  businesses ;  I  made  an  end  of  it  Saturday  last  [this  letter 
is  dated  23°  Jan.  1627]  and  shewed  it  to  the  bearer,  and  have  much 
abridged  it,  and  in  some  places  enlarged  it ;  but  my  own  Dictionary 
[i.e.  the  first  part],  which  I  began  since  the  year  1593,  I  do  but 
begin  to  write  fair,  yet  I  hope  it  will  be  ready  by  the  beginning  of 
the  summer  '  .  .  .  .  Sir  Thomas  ap  William  hath  the  Latin  first, 
and  the  Welsh  following :  And  mine  hath  the  Welsh  first,  and  the 
Latin  after:  and  both  will  not  much  exceed  the  bulk  of  Sir 

1  This  shows  that  Dr.  Davies  meant  to  finish  the  work  by  the  summer  of 
1627.     It  appeared  in  1632. 

320 


GRAMMAR  AND  LEXICOGRAPHY 

Thomas'  Dictionary,  as  it  is  written  by  himself  ...     I  will  make 
the  more  speed,  and  endeavour  to  be  ready  before  midsummer." 

To  summarise  this  correspondence  :  Sir  John  Wynn  wished  to 
have  the  book  printed  for  Thomas  Williams.  Some  arrangement 
was  arrived  at  by  which  the  latter  delivered  the  MS.  into  his  hands. 
Sir  John  thought  Dr.  Davies  the  man  best  qualified  to  see  to  its 
publication,  and  intended  him  to  copy  it  verbatim.  Dr.  Davies 
considered  the  work  too  full  of  inaccuracies  to  do  this.  Thomas 
Williams,  it  would  seem,  had  died  before  Dr.  Davies  received  the 
MS.,  and  during  the  long  time  it  was  in  his  possession  Sir  John 
Wynn  died.  Dr.  Davies,  who  had  his  own  Dictionary  ready,  but 
for  the  writing  of  a  fair  copy,  conceived  the  idea  of  adding  a 
second  part  to  his  book,  and  for  this  purpose  made  extensive  but 
not  exhaustive  use  of  Thomas  Williams'  manuscript. 

The  question  presents  itself — did  Thomas  .Williams'  Diar- 
liebion  also  fall  into  Dr.  Davies'  hands  ?  And  what  of  the 
Botanologium  and  the  rest  of  the  matter  at  the  end  of  his  book  ? 
These  questions  can  only  be  answered  when  Thomas  Williams' 
work  is  given  to  the  world,  or  after  some  competent  scholar  has 
compared  the  two  works.  There  is  more  than  a  tinge  of  suspicion 
that  the  old  anchorite  of  Trefriw,  who  laboured  assiduously  for 
fifty  years  at  his  task,  has  not  yet  met  with  his  reward  at  the 
hands  of  his  countrymen. 

James  Howell,  of  Abernant,  whose  other  work  has  received 
considerable  notice  in  previous  pages,  also  contributed  to  this  part 
of  our  subject  what  was,  perhaps,  his  most  celebrated  work,  viz., 
that  entitled : 

"Lexicon  Tetraglotton,  An  English-French-Italian-Spanish 
Dictionary,  whereunto  is  adjoined  a  large  Nomenclature  of  the 
proper  Terms  (in  all  the  fovvr)  belonging  to  several  Arts, 
and  Sciences,  to  Recreations,  to  Professions  both  Liberal 
and  Mechanick,  &c.  Divided  to  Fiftie  two  Sections ;  With 
another  Volume  of  the  Choicest  Proverbs  in  all  the  Sayed 
Toungs,  (consisting  of  divers  compleat  Tomes)  and  the 
English  translated  into  the  other  Three,  to  take  off  the 

321 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

reproach  which  useth  to  be  cast  upon  Her,  that  She  is  but 
barren  in  this  point,  and  those  Proverbs  She  hath,  are  but 
flat  and  empty  :  Moreover,  Ther  are  sundry  familiar  Letters 
and  Verses  running  all  in  Proverbs,   with  a  particular  Tome 
of  the  British,   or  old  Cambrian  Sayed-Sawes  and  Adages, 
which  the  author  thought  fit  to  annex  hereunto,  and   make 
Intelligible,  for   their  great   Antiquity  and   Weight :  Lastly, 
there  are  five  Centuries  of  New  Sayings,  which,  in  tract  of 
Time,  may  serve  for  Proverbs  to  Posterity.     By  the  Labours, 
and   Lucubrations   of    James   Howell,    Esq.      Senesco,    non 
Segnesco.     London,  Printed  by  Thomas  Leach."  * 
The  Welsh  part  of  this  remarkable  book  has  a  separate  title- 
page,  and  the  pages  are  numbered  separately.     The  Welsh  title 
reads  :  "  Diharebion  Cymraeg,  VVedu  ei  cyfieithu  yn  Saisoneg, 
British  or  old  Cambrian  Proverbs,  and  Cymraecan  Adages,  never 
Englished,  (and  divers  never   published)  before."     There   is  an 
"  Epistle  Dedicatory  to  the  Right  Honorable,  (My  most  endeered 
Lord)  Richard,  Earl  of  Carbery,  &c.     At  His  Palace  in  Golden- 
Grove."     It  is  dated  "  London  4°  Idus  Martii,   1658."     There  is 
also   another  dedication,   "  To  the    Knowing  Reder,"  and    "  A 
Letter  to  the  Author  from  a  worthy  Gentleman,  who  supplied  him 
with  som  British  Proverbs,"  written  by  one,  Richard  Owen,  and 
dated  "Eltham  in  Kent,  Aug.  20,  1657." 

This  work,  which  must  have  involved  infinite  labour,  was  of 
more  interest  to  English  readers  than  it  could  have  been  to  the 
main  body  of  Welshmen  in  the  Principality  at  that  time,  for  there 
are  only  48  pages  of  its  contents  in  the  Welsh  language.  It  has 
many  inaccuracies,  which  show  the  erratic  character  of  its  author, 
but,  nevertheless,  it  proves  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  wide 
interests  and  considerable  attainments.  He  was  certainly  a  man 
of  genius,  but  his  undertakings  were  so  numerous  and  the  path  of 
his  life  so  uneven,  that  his  work  correspondingly  suffers.  If  fate 
had  been  kinder,  James  Howell  could  have  attained  a  position  of 
eminence  both  in  Welsh  and  English  literature,  that  would  have 
placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  litterateurs  of  that  age. 

*  Llyfr,  y  Cymry>  pp.  181-2.      Hants  Lltnyddiaeth  Gymreig,  pp.  52-3 
322 


CHAPTER   V 

MISCELLANEOUS 


THERE  are  a  few  eminent  Welshmen  and  writers    whose 
works  do  not  admit  of  classification  in  the  previous  chapters, 
but   who   contributed   in   various   ways   to   literature  and   other 
activities  in  this  century. 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  "  to  gather  up  the  fragments 
that  remain,"  in  order  to  make  the  survey  as  complete  as  space  and 
opportunity  will  allow. 

Arise  Evans  published  a  book,  in  1652,  relating  the  history 
of  his  own  strange  life.  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies  in  his  admirable  little 
book  "Hen  Ddewiniaid  Cymne"  published  in  1901,  gives  an  in- 
teresting account  of  this  eccentric  character,  and  of  Arise  Evans' 
autobiography  he  writes,  "  Nid  oes  odid  lyfr  yn  yr  iaith  Seisnig 
mor  rhyfedd  a  hwn."  The  author's  correct  name  was  Rhys 
Evans,  and  he  was  born  at  Llangelynin,  near  Barmouth,  in  1607. 
At  a  very  early  age  he  developed  a  tendency  to  mysticism,  and 
claimed  to  be  continually  seeing  "  visions."  In  1629  he  went  to 
London,  and  in  one  of  his  first  "  visions  "  there  he  saw  the  city 
burned  to  the  ground,  which  is,  at  least,  strange ;  for  the  book  in 
which  he  records  this  appeared  in  1652,  fourteen  years  before  the 
Great  Fire  took  place.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Charles  I.  relating 
many  of  his  weird  dreams,  and  endeavoured  to  obtain  an  inter- 
view with  the  King,  but  his  purpose  was  thwarted.  Later  on  he 
transferred  his  attention  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  was  more 
approachable,  but  gave  him  scant  encouragement.  When  the 
Civil  WTar  broke  out,  he  was  very  active  in  London,  and  was 
several  times  imprisoned. 

On  one  occasion  he  predicted  to  Oliver  Cromwell  the  restor- 
ation of  Charles  II.1  and  made  bold  to  tell  the  Protector,  in  the 
presence  of  his  daughters,  that  he  should  offer  one  of  them  in 
marriage  to  the  fugitive  Prince  of  Wales. 

He  also  prophesied  that  four  more  monarchs  would  reign  in 
England  before  a  change  of  dynasty  ;  in  fact,   he  mentioned  five 
1  Htn  Ddewiniaid  Cymrn,  p.  20. 

325 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

crowned  heads,  which,  strangely  enough,  proved  correct,  when 
Queen  Mary,  the  spouse  of  William  III.  is  included.  The  year  of 
Evans'  death  is  not  known,  but  he  lived  to  see  the  Restoration, 
and  it  is  recorded  that  he  was  touched  by  the  King  for  Kings 
evil.  The  following  books  and  pamphlets  were  published  by  him  : 
"The  Bloudy  Vision  of  John  Farley,"  1653;  "An  Eccho  to 
the  Book,  called  a  Voice  from  Heaven,"  1653;  "A  Voice  from 
Heaven  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England,"  1653;  "To  His 
Excellencie  The  Lord  General  Cromwell,"  1653;  "The  Voice  of 
the  Iron  Rod,  Being  a  Seasonable  Admonition  to  Cromwell,  and 
to  all  Judicious  men."  1655;  "The  Voice  of  King  Charles  the 
Father,  to  Charles  the  Son,"  1655. 

There  were  also  two  men  named  John  Evans,  who 
flourished  as  mystics  and  soothsayers  in  this  period.  The  first  is 
believed  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  book  called  "  The  Palace 
of  Profitable  Pleasure,"  which  was  published  in  162 1.1  The 
second  was  the  mentor  of  the  notorious  William  Lilly,  who,  in  his 
own  biography,  relates  much  of  John  Evans'  history,  He 
mentions  that  he  was  a  Welshman,  who  had  graduated  at  Oxford 
and  had  held  Church  preferment  in  Staffordshire,  but  had  ruined 
himself  through  intemperance.  In  1634  John  Evans  published  a 
book  entitled,  "  The  Universal  Medecine  or  the  Virtues  of  my 
Magnetical  or' Antimonial  Cup,"  of  which  another  edition  appeared 
in  1642.  Much  confusion  has  arisen  between  this  John  Evans 
and  Arise  Evans,  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  latter. 

Richard  Baxter  made  considerable  researches  in  Wales  as  to 
divination  and  spiritualism,  and  wrote  a  book  on  the  subject, 
entitled,  "  The  Certainty  of  the  Worlds  of  Spirits  Fully  evinced 
by  unquestionable  Histories  of  Apparitions  and  Witchcrafts, 
Written  for  the  Conviction  of  Sadduces  and  Infidels  By  Richard 
Baxter."  London.  i6qi.2  A  Welsh  gentleman  named  John  Lewis, 
of  Glasgrug,  near  Aberystwyth,  was  in  frequent  correspondence 
with  Baxter  on  this  subject.  The  former,  who  published  three 
books  in  Welsh,  two  of  which  related  to  education  and  religion  in 

1  Hen  Ddewiniaid  Cymrt4,  p.  26.     2  ibid,  p.  38. 
326 


MISCELLANEOUS 

Wales,  was  one  of  the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  a  National 
University.  In  the  Civil  War  he  showed  strong  sympathy  with 
Cromwell  and  the  Parliament."  1 

Thomas  Pugh,  of  whom  nothing  is  known  except  that  he 
published  "British  and  Outlandish  Prophesies,"  in  1658,  a  work 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  book,  was  also  a 
mystic,  as  its  title  indicates.  He  wrote  that  work  to  please 
Cromwell,  whom  he  looked  upon  as  the  long-expected  deliverer 
of  the  nation,  and  predicted  for  him  world -wide  influence.  The 
Protector,  however,  no  doubt  to  Thomas  Pugh's  discomfiture,  died 
within  a  short  time  of  its  publication. 

Sir  William  Jones  was  the  eldest  son  and  heir  of  William 
Jones,  Esq.,  of  Castellmarch,  in  Carnarvonshire,2  the  ancient  seat 
of  the  family,  where  he  was  born  in  1566.  Wood  states  that  he 
was  educated  first  at  the  Free  School  in  Beaumaris,  but  Canon 
Williams,  in  his  Eminent  Welshmen^  denies  this.  Both  agree  that 
at  the  age  of  14  he  proceeded  to  St.  Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford, 
and  that  he  afterwards  went  to  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  was  called  to 
the  bar  in  1595,  became  a  Bencher  in  1611,  and  was  Lent  Reader 
in  1616.  He  is  also  said  to  have  spent  two  years  at  Furnival's 
Inn.  He  was  M.P.  for  Beaumaris  1597-8,  and  again  in  1604-11 
and  1614.  In  1 60 1  he  sat  for  the  county  of  Carnarvon.  In  1617 
he  was  made  Sergeant -at -Law,  and  in  the  same  year  was  knighted 
and  took  up  the  position  of  Chief  Justice  in  Ireland,  a  dignity 
which  he  held  for  three  years,  and  left  at  his  own  request.  In 
1621  he  was  made  a  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  England, 
and  in  1623  was  raised  to  the  King's  Bench.  He  died  in  his 
house  in  Holborn  in  1640,  and  was  buried  under  the  chapel  of 
Lincoln's  Inn. 

His  writings  are  on  legal  subjects.  He  collected  "  Reports 
of  divers  special  cases  in  the  Courts  of  King's  Bench  and 
Common  Pleas,"  which  contain  the  cases  of  greatest  remark 
during  the  time  he  was  Judge  in  those  Courts  (1622-1640).  These 

1  Htn  DJeioiniaid  Cynint,  p.  45.  "Athen  :  OJTOH  :  i.,  pp.  543-4,  and 
Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen t  p.  266.  See  also  Williams'  Part,  ffist.  of 
Princ*  of  H'ales* 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

were  published  in  folio  in  1675.  He  also  published  "  Several 
Speeches  in  Parliament."  Sir  William  Jones  was  a  distinguished 
Welshman,  a  Counsellor  of  high  repute,  and  an  able  Judge. 
Wood  informs  us  that  "he  constantly  kept  Oxford  Circuit  as 
Judge." 

Thomas  Jones,  son  of  Edward  Jones,  of  Nant  Eos, 
Cardiganshire,  was  born  at  that  place  in  1618,  elected  Probationer 
Fellow  of  Merton  College,  Oxford,  in  I638,1  and  after  taking 
his  degree  he  travelled  in  France  and  Italy  with  George  Brent, 
son  of  Sir  Nathan  Brent,  until  about  1647,  when  he  returned  to 
Oxford,  submitted  to  the  Parliamentary  Visitors,  Aug.  6,  1649, 
and  proceeded  to  his  M.A.  degree.  He  afterwards  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  Civil  Law,  and  proceeded  to  a  doctorate 
in  that  Faculty  in  1659.  He  was  a  good  Greek  and  Hebrew 
scholar,  and  in  1660  he  published  several  books  of  Jurisprudence,2 
in  which  he  showed  great  capacity.  Their  titles  are  : 

1.  "Oratio    habita    in   Auditorio    juridico,    cum    Recitationes 
solennes  in  Titulum  de  Judiciis  auspicatus   est."      Oxford, 
1660. 

2.  "De  Judiciis,  ubi  de  Persona  &  Officio  Judicis  apud  Ebraeos 
&  Romanes  late  disputatur."     Printed  with  the  former. 

3.  "De   Origine   Dominii  &  servitutis   Theses  Juridicae,"   also 
printed  with  the  above. 

After  leaving  Oxford  he  practised  in  London  at  Doctor's 
Commons.  He  died  of  the  Great  Plague  in  1665. 

John  Roberts,  the  Benedictine,  was  born  at  Trawsfynydd, 
in  Merionethshire,  in  1575  or  1576.3  His  father,  John  Roberts, 
a  man  of  good  lineage,  was  a  merchant,  who  in  his  travels  married 
Anna,  daughter  of  Paul  Arderike,  a  native  of  the  duchy  of 
Holstein.4  At  the  age  of  19  he  went  to  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford,  the  college  of  Laud  and  John  Scudamore,  both  of  whom 
were  contemporaries,  where  he  matriculated  in  1595-6.  He  left 
the  University  in  1598,  went  to  London,  and  was  there  admitted 

1  Atken  :  O.wn  :  ii.,  p.  361.  2  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen^  p,  262. 
3  Camm's  Benedictine  Martyr*  p.  21.  4  ibid,  p.  23, 


MISCELLANEOUS, 

into  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  he 
left  England  for  a  Continental  tour.  In  Paris  he  got  into  touch 
with  numerous  Roman  Catholic  exiles  from  England,  and  in  the 
Church  of  Notre  Dame  he  was  received  into  the  Roman  com- 
munion. '  He  afterwards  met  Father  John  Cecil,  one  of  the  first 
English  students  at  Valladolid,  who  was  then  staying  in  Paris. 
The  latter  gave  Roberts  letters  to  the  authorities  of  the  seminary 
at  Valladolid,  whence  he  proceeded  in  September,  1598,  and  was 
admitted  into  the  English  College  of  St.  Albans,  which  had  been 
founded  in  1589-90  through  the  efforts  of  Robert  Parsons,  and 
had  by  this  time  53  students.  In  the  Liber  primi  examinis  of 
that  college  occurs  the  following  entry,  under  1598  :  "Joannes 
Robert  us  vetdt  ad  hoc  collegium  15°  Septembris"  just  two  days  after 
the  death  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  a  patron  of  that  institution,  and 
the  avowed  enemy  of  England.  Amongst  the  Benedictines  at 
Valladolid  was  Mark  Barkworth,  who  afterwards,  like  Roberts 
himself,  died  on  the  scaffold.  Roberts  became  known  to  the 
Benedictine  Order  in  Spain  as  John  de  Mervinia 2  (a  Latinised 
form  of  Merioneth). 

Two  other  Welshmen  were  prominent  in  the  same  institution, 
viz.,  Augustine  Baker  and  Leander  Jones.  In  1600  Roberts  was 
formally  received  into  the  Benedictine  Order,  and  was  ordained 
priest  in  1602.3  In  that  year,  in  obedience  to  a  papal  decree,  he 
set  out  for  England,  and  arrived  there  just  after  the  death  of 
Elizabeth  in  1603,  after  staying  some  months  at  Paris.  Lewis 
Owen  in  his  "  Running  Register  "  states  that  Roberts  was  the  first 
of  the  order  to  derive  his  Mission  to  England  from  the  Pope, 
"  which  made  him  not  a  little  proud  that  hee  should  bee  a  second 
Augustine  monk."  His  coming  had,  however,  been  reported  by  a 
spy,  a  former  friend,  and  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison, 
but  was  released  as  an  act  of  grace  by  James  I.  on  his  arrival  from 
Scotland,  and  deported.  He  went  to  Douay,  but  returned  in  a 
very  short  time,  and  did  good  service  during  the  great  plague 
which  visited  England  in  1603.  *  He  was  again  arrested,  this  time 

'Camm's  Benedictine  Martyr,  pp.  42-3.  -  ibid,  p.  86.  3  ibid,  p.  133. 
4  ibid,  p.  157. 

329 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

in  the  house  of  Thomas  Percy,  a  conspirator  in  the  Gunpowder 
Plot,  and  committed  to  the  Gatehouse  prison.  At  the  intercession 
of  the  French  ambassador,  his  life  was  spared,  and  he  was  again 
deported.  He  remained  at  Douay  for  14  months,  and  was  made 
first  prior  of  St.  Gregory.  In  1607  he  returned,  was  arrested, 
and  committed  to  the  same  prison,  from  which  he  escaped.  He 
was  recaptured,  but  again  deported  owing  to  the  intervention  of  the 
French  ambassador.  He  stayed  some  time  in  Spain,  but  returned 
to  England  for  the  last  time  in  1610,  just  after  most  stringent 
laws  had  been  passed  against  Romanists.  He  was  seized  and  put 
on  his  trial  at  Newgate  on  Dec.  5th,  1610,  before  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Coke,  and  other  judges.  Refusing  to  take  the  oath  of 
Allegiance,  he  confessed  to  his  Orders  after  some  pressure,  was 
found  guilty  of  high  treason  and  sentenced  to  death.  The 
sentence  was  consummated  on  Dec.  loth,  1610. 

Thomas  Jones  (Twm  Shon  Catty)  was  the  natural  son  of 
Sir  John  Wynn,  of  Gwydir,1  by  Catherine  Jones,  a  native  of 
Tregaron,  who  lived  at  Llidiart  y  Ffynnon,  in  that  village.2  As  a 
youth  he  lived  a  life  of  wild  adventure,  and  he  records  his 
escapades  in  a  very  diverting  book  entitled  "  The  Adventures  of 
Twm  Shon  Catty."  Quite  early  in  life  he  showed  antiquarian 
propensities,  and  these  were,  no  doubt  encouraged  by  Dr.  John 
Dafydd  Rhys,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  when  the  latter 
was  curate  of  Tregaron.  Dr.  Rhys  took  great  delight  in  instruct- 
ing the  sharpwitted  youth,  and  was  much  revered  by  him  in  turn. 
At  the  age  of  15,  Thomas  Jones  was  apprenticed  to  a  farmer  at 
Cwm  y  Gwern  Ddu.  Here  he  was  very  harshly  treated,  and  fell  a 
victim  to  that  common  pest  of  the  time,  the  smallpox,  to  which 
he  nearly  succumbed.  He  afterwards  entered  the  Service  of 
Squire  Graspacre,  the  local  landowner,  who  had  married  Sir  John 
Wynn's  sister,  where  his  lot  was  considerably  ameliorated.  Under 
Rhys'  tuition  his  love  of  reading  was  developed,  and  with  it  came  a 
distaste  for  servitude.  He  played  several  practical  jokes  upon  his 
master,  but  never  quite  lost  his  favour.  Amongst  his  adventures 

1  Prichatd's  edn.  of  Twm  Skon  Catty  (1859),  p.  8.     2ibid,  p.  9. 
33° 


MISCELLANEOUS 

were  included  singing  ballads  at  Cardigan  fair  in  the  disguise  of  a 
woman,  and  rescuing  the  lady  of  Ystrad  Feen,  in  addition  to 
several  exploits  in  which  he  got  the  better  of  highwaymen.  He 
afterwards  went  to  London,  and  in  rather  a  pathetic  scene  dis- 
closed his  identity  to  his  father.  His  career  of  adventure  ended 
by  marrying  the  widow  of  Sir  George  Devereux,  of  Ystrad  Feen, 
to  whom  he  had  once  revealed  his  affection  in  Cywyddy  Gqfid. 
He  built  a  mansion  at  the  side  of  his  mother's  cottage,  and  settled 
down  into  a  respectable  and  useful  citizen,  becoming  J.P.  for  the 
county  of  Brecon.  He  was  of  some  celebrity  as  an  antiquary, 
poet,  and  genealogist,  and  his  knowledge  of  heraldry  is  said  to 
have  been  profound.  He  died  in  i62o.z 

John  Jones,  Ll.D.,  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,2  in 
1672,  and  studied  Law.  He  afterwards  practised  physic  at 
Windsor,  and  became  Chancellor  of  Llandaff.  He  was  a  man  of 
learning  and  ingenuity,  and  in  1683  he  published  a  Latin  treatise 
on  intermittent  fevers.  He  died  in  1709. 

John  Jones,  son  of  John  Jones,  of  Llanelian,  in  Denbigh- 
shire, was  entered  as  Student  in  New  Inn,  Oxford,  in  1675,  aged 
20  years,  and  was  afterwards  transferred  to  Trinity  College,  from 
which  he  took  theB.A.  degree  in  1681.  He  subsequently  became 
Usher  of  the  Free  School  at  St.  Alban's,  in  Hertfordshire,  and 
was  esteemed  a  good  Latin  poet.  He  wrote  : 

"Fanum  S.  Albani  Poema  carmine  Heroico."  Lond.  1683. 
and  dedicated  the  book  to  Sir  Hardbottle  Grimstone,  Master  of 
the  Rolls.  He  died  a  young  man  in  1686,  and  as  a  mark  of  the 
respect  in  which  he  was  held,  a  public  memorial  was  placed  over 
his  grave  at  St.  Alban's.3 

Walter  Rumsey  was  born  at  Llanover,  in  Monmouth,  in 
1584,  proceeded  to  Gloucester  Hall,  Oxford,  at  the  age  of  16, 
and  afterwards  to  Gray's  Inn,  where  he  was  made  Barrister, 
Puncher,  and  Lent  Reader.  In  1635  he  was  appointed  Puisne 
Judge  in  the  Brecon  Circuit,  and  in  1637  he  became  Chief 
Justice.  He  was  so  eminent  in  his  profession  that  he  was  called 

'Williams'  Eminent  W'ekhmeii,  p.  262.  'ibid,  p.  256.  3  Athett  : 
Oxon  :  ii. ,  p.  799. 

331 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  the  picklock  of  the  Law."  J  In  1640  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Shire  for  Monmouth,  and  entered  Parliament,  but 
he  refused  to  serve  in  the  Long  Parliament.  He  had  other 
pursuits  besides  the  law,  and  Wood  states 2  that  he  was  a  most 
ingenious  man,  and  that  "  he  had  a  philosophical  head  and  was  a 
good  musician,  and  most  curious  for  grafting,  inoculating,  and 
planting."  He  invented  the  provang,  a  medical  instrument  made 
of  whalebone,  to  cleanse  the  throat  and  stomach.  His  book, 
entitled  Organon  Salutis,  1657  and  1659,  is  a  description  of  this 
instrument.  He  added  to  this  another  work,  "  Divers  new 
experiments  of  the  virtue  of  Tobacco  and  Coffee,"  to  which  Sir 
Henry  Blount  and  James  Howell  wrote  commendatory  Epistles. 
Sir  Walter  Rumsey  died  in  1660,  and  was  buried  in  the  parish 
church  at  Llanover. 

Thomas  Vaughan  (1622-1666),  twin  brother  of  Henry 
Vaughan,  the  Silurist,  was  born  on  April  iyth,  1622,  at  Skethrog, 
Brecon,  went  to  school  at  Llangattock,  where  he  was  taught  by 
the  rector  of  that  parish,  and  received  from  him  a  sound  classical 
education.  In  1638  he  proceeded  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  but 
was  disturbed  by  the  Civil  war,  and  returned  to  his  native  county, 
where  he  became  rector  of  Llansantffraid.  He  was  ejected  under 
the  Commonwealth,  and  returned  to  Oxford,  where  he  became 
the  most  famous  alchemist  of  the  day.  Under  the  pseudonym 
Eugenius  Philalethes  he  published  some  most  curious  books. 
He  was  also  a  very  zealous  Rosicrucian.  He  greatly  admired  the 
works  of  Cornelius  Agrippa,3  especially  his  Occult  Philosophv. 
He  followed  his  principles  in  most  of  his  books,  and  in  matters 
of  philosophy  he  acknowledged  that  next  to  God  he  owed 
Cornelius  Agrippa  all  that  he  had.  He  praised  him  in  such 
poetical  strains  as  the  following  : 

"Nature's  Apostle  and  her  choice  High  Priest, 
Her  mystical  and  bright  Evangelist." 

He  always  expressed  himself  strongly,  on  the  other  hand, 
against  the  Aristotelian  philosophy.     In  religion,  Wood  describes 
1  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  463-4.     *Athen  :    Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  255. 
3  ibid,  pp.  368-70. 


MISCELLANEOUS 

him  as  "  neither  Papist  nor  Sectary,  but  a  true  resolute  Protestant 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  Church  of  England." 

He  published  in  1650  "  Anthroposophia  TJieomagica,  or,  A  dis- 
course of  the  Nature  of  Man  and  his  state  after  death  grounded 
on  his  Creator's  Proto  Chemistry,  and  verified  by  a  practicall 
Examination  of  Principles  in  the  Great  World.  By  Eugenius 
Philalethes.  London.  Printed  by  T.  W.  for  H.  Blunaen  at  the 
Castle  in  Cornhill.  1650." 

In  the  same  year  appeared  "Anitna  Magica  Abscondita,  or,  A 
discourse  of  the  universall  Spirit  of  Nature,  with  his  strange, 
abstruse,  miraculous  ascent  and  descent.  By  Eugenius  Philalethes. 
London.  Printed  by  T.  W.  for  H.  B.  1650." 

It  will  be  seen  that  his  works  were  on  abstruse  subjects,  and 
that  the  author  was  something  of  a  mystic  and  poet,  in  addition  to 
his  eminence  as  a  chemist.  He  also  wrote  "  Magia  Adamica,  or, 
The  Antiquity  of  Magic,  and  "Lumen  de  Lumine"  1651.  His 
death  happened  in  I666.1 

John  Vaughan,  a  noted  lawyer  of  this  century,  eldest  son 
of  Edward  Vaughan,  of  Trawscoed,  was  born  in  1608  at  Traws- 
coed.  in  Cardiganshire,  educated  at  the  King's  Grammar  School 
at  Worcester,  and  was  afterwards  admitted  to  Christ's  Church, 
Oxford,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1630 
at  the  Inner  Temple,  made  a  Bencher  in  1660,  and  obtained  a 
considerable  practice  as  an  advocate.  He  was  at  first  more 
bent,  however,  on  his  academical  studies  of  poetry  and  mathe- 
matics than  on  the  study  of  the  law.  But  some  time  afterwards, 
making  the  acquaintance  of  Selden  and  others,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  Civil  Law,  especially  English  Law,  in 
which  he  distinguished  himself.  He  married  Letitia,  the  daughter 
of  John  Stedman,  of  Strata  Florida,  in  Cardiganshire.  He  was  a 
burgess  for  the  town  of  Cardigan,  1628-9  to  1640,  and  again  from 
1640  to  i645-2  In  tne  latter  year,  disapproving  of  the  doings  of 
Parliament,  he  retired  to  his  native  county,  and  remained  there 

'Wood  gives  1665  (see  Athena;  Oxon  :  ii.,  pp,  253-4).  Garnett  and 
Gossegive  1666.  Hist.  En^.  Lit.,  iii.,  p.  64.  'Williams'  Parl.  Hist,  of  the 
Print,  of  Wales,  p.  ji. 

333 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

until  the  Restoration.  At  the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  he  was 
elected  Knight  for  the  County  of  Cardigan  for  the  Parliament 
which  met  in  1661,  and  the  King  took  notice  of  his  great  attain- 
ments and  experience,  and  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of 
knighthood.  In  1668  he  was  sworn  Sergeant -at -Law  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  and  almost  immediately  afterwards  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,1  which  he  presided  over  with 
great  dignity  and  legal  acumen.  He  died  in  1674,  and  was  buried 
in  the  Temple  Church,  near  the  grave  of  John  Selden.  In  1677, 
his  son  Edward  Vaughan  published  a  collection  of  his  works, 
consisting  of  Reports  and  Arguments  on  many  Special  Cases, 
which  John  Vaughan,  as  Lord  Chief  Justice,  had  decided  in  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  This  famous  judge  was  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  men  of  his  age.  His  biographer,  in  the 
Parliamentary  History  of  the  Principality  of  Wales,  states  that 
"  to  his  great  abilities  ...  he  united  a  strong  attachment  to  the 
English  constitution,  which  prevented  his  being  too  great  an 
advocate  for  the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown."  He  suffered  con- 
siderably during  the  Rebellion,  and  his  petition  to  the  King  in  1666 
shows  that  he  was  plundered  and  made  to  compound  for  his 
estates,  in  addition  to  being  restrained  from  exercising  his  pro- 
fession as  a  lawyer.  Some  of  the  above  details  of  his  life  have 
been  gleaned  from  the  inscription  over  his  tomb  in  the  Temple 
Church. 

Sir  William  Williams,  Knight  and  Baronet,  of  Llanforda, 
Salop,  and  Nantyanog,  Anglesey,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Hugh 
Williams,  D.D.,  of  Llantrisant,  Anglesey.  He  was  admitted  to 
Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1650,  and  became  Scholar  in  1652,  and 
afterwards  went  to  Gray's  Inn,  and  became  a  barrister  in  1658. 
In  1667  he  was  appointed  Recorder  of  Chester,  and  was  M.P. 
for  that  city  from  1675  to  i68i.2  In  1689-90,  and  again  in  1695-8 
he  sat  for  Beaumaris.  He  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  1679-81.  When  the  Popish  Plot  broke  out  he  sided 
with  the  dominant  party,  and  after  the  Presbyterian  Plot  outbreak 

lAtken  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  536.     2  ParL  ffisi.  of  Print,  of  Wales,  p.  n, 
334 


MISCELLANEOUS 

in  1683,  he  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  their  cause.  In  1687  he 
was  made  Solicitor- General  by  James  II.  and  received  the  honour 
of  knighthood,  and  afterwards  in  1688,  a  baronetcy.  He  published 
several  speeches  made  in  the  House  of  Commons,1  and  amongst 
them  that  made  by  himself  when  he  was  elected  Speaker  in  1679, 
also  a  "  Speech  to  His  Majesty,"  made  on  the  occasion  of  his 
presentation  as  Speaker  in  1680,  and  "A  Speech  made  to  Sir 
Robert  Peyton  upon  his  expulsion  from  the  House,  1680."  The 
language  in  this  last  oration  is  not  above  reproach.  It  was  after- 
wards published  under  the  title,  "  A  Specimen  of  the  Rhetoric, 
Candor,  Gravity,  and  Ingenuity  of  William  Williams,  Speaker  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  in  his  Speech  to  Sir  Robert  Peyton." 

In  1685  Williams  was  tried  for  libel  for  printing  Thomas 
Dangerfield's  information,2  given  to  the  House,  and  although  he 
pleaded  privilege  of  Parliament,  he  was  fined  ^10,000  by  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench,  but  the  sentence  was  afterwards  (1688) 
declared  illegal.  He  died  in  1700.  His  grandson  became  the 
the  first  Sir  Watkin  Williams  Wynn,  Bart.,  of  Wynnstay. 

Robert  Price,  known  as  "  the  patriot  of  his  native  country," 
was  born  at  Gilar,  Cerrig-y-  Drudion,  m  1653.  He  was  educated 
at  Wrexham  Grammar  School,3  proceeded  to  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  in  1672,  and  afterwards  to  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  then 
perfected  his  education  by  travels  in  France  and  Italy.  He 
married  on  his  return  the  daughter  of  Robert  Rudd,  of  Foxley, 
who  had  a  considerable  inheritance,  and  he  afterwards  made 
Foxley  his  home.  He  became  Attorney  General  for  Glamorgan, 
1684-5,  f°r  South  Wales,  1685-9,  Recorder  of  Gloucester,  1685-7, 
In  1684  he  had  been  appointed  one  of  the  Stewards  to  Charles 
II. 's  Dowager,  and  in  1686  King's  Counsel  at  Ludlow.*  On  the 
accession  of  William  III.,  he  was  removed  from  his  offices,  and 
when  the  King  appointed  a  favourite,  William  Bentinck,  Earl  of 
Portland,  a  Dutchman,  as  lord  of  Denbigh,  Bromfield,  and  Yale, 
Robert  Price  took  up  an  attitude  of  most  determined  opposition 

1  Athen  :  Oxon  :  ii.,  p.  1092.  2  Williams'  Par!.  Hist,  of  Princ.  of  Wales, 
p.  II.  3  Williams'  Welsh  fudges,  p.  143.  *  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen^ 
p.  419. 

335 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

to  him,  and  declared  that  "the  submitting  of  1,500  freeholders 
to  the  will  of  a  Dutch  lord  was  putting  them  in  a  worse  posture 
than  their  former  estate."  He  argued  that  according  to  the  "  Bill 
of  Rights  "  William  III.  could  not  give  away  the  estates  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  The  result 
of  his  determined  stand  was  that  the  King  withdrew  the  grant  to 
William  Eentinck.  After  the  death  of  William  III.,  Robert 
Price's  speech  was  printed,  under  the  title,  "  Gloria  Cambria,  or, 
the  Speech  of  a  bold  Briton  in  Parliament  against  a  Dutch  Prince 
of  Wales."  Price  sat  in  Parliament  as  member  for  Weobley.  In 
1700  he  was  made  Second  Justice  of  Brecknock,  and  in  1702 
Sergeant  at  Law.  On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  he  was 
appointed  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  1702-26,  and  Justice  of  the 
Comm.m  Pleas,  1726-32.  He  died  in  the  latter  year  and  was 
buried  at  Yazor  Church,  in  Herefordshire.1  His  "Life"  was 
published  in  London  in  1734. 

Richard  Davies,  of  Cloddiau  Cochion,  a  very  prominent 
Quaker,  was  born  at  Welshpool  in  1635.  He  first  of  all  left  the 
Establishment  and  became  an  Independent,  but  afterwards,  in 
1657,  joined  the  Quakers  and  ardently  disseminated  their  tenets, 
suffering  persecution  and  imprisonment  on  that  account.  His 
disputation  with  Bishop  William  Lloyd  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
prominent  public  event  of  his  life.  In  1702,  he  with  eleven 
others,  presented  an  address  to  the  Queen  in  person,  and  on  his 
way  home  he  visited  Bishop  Lloyd  at  Worcester.  He  wrote  an 
autobiography,  which  is  very  quaint  and  interesting.  It  is  a  curious 
volume,  and  throws  considerable  light  on  the  social  state  of  Wales 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  work  is  entitled  "  An  Account 
of  the  Convincement,  Exercises,  Services,  and  Travels  of  that 
ancient  servant  of  the  Lord,  Richard  Davies,  with  some  relations 
of  ancient  Friends,  and  the  spreading  of  truth  in  North  Wales," 
and  it  passed  through  six  editions.  Richard  Davies  died  at 
Cloddiau  Cochion  in  1708.- 

1  See  Williams'  Welsh  Judges,   p.    143.     2  See  Williams'  Eminent  Welsh- 
men, p.  no. 

336 


MISCELLANEOUS 

Henry  Rowland,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  was  born  at  Mell- 
teyrn,  in  Lleyn,  c.  1551.  He  received  his  early  education  in  the 
school  at  Penllech,1  and  was  admitted  to  St.  Mary's  Hall,  Oxford, 
in  1569,  taking  his  B.A.  degree  from  New  College  in  1574,  and 
M.A.  in  1577.  In  1591  he  proceeded  B.D.,  and  in  1605  D.D. 
After  spending  nine  years  as  rector  of  his  native  parish,  he  was 
preferred  to  the  benefice  of  Launton,  near  Bister  or  Bicester,  in 
Oxfordshire,  in  1581.  In  1583  he  was  appointed  sinecure  rector 
of  Aberdaron,  and  in  1584  Prebendary  of  Penmynydd.  In  1588 
he  became  Archdeacon  of  Anglesey,  and  Dean  of  Bangor  in  1593. 
In  1598  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Bangor  in  succession  to 
Bishop  Richard  Vaughan,  his  fellow-countryman,  kinsman,  and 
intimate.  A  monument  existed  to  each  in  Bangor  Cathedral  until 
the  Cromwellian  iconoclasts  destroyed  them.  Bishop  Rowland 
presented  the  Cathedral  with  four  bells  in  place  of  those  which 
Arthur  Bulkley,  one  of  his  predecessors,  had  taken  away.3  Wood 
is  wrong  in  stating  that  Bishop  Rowland  was  a  celibate.  On  the 
contrary,  he  was  the  first  married  rector  of  Launton,  after  the 
Reformation.  3  He  married  a  widow  named  Frances  Cotesford, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Hutchins. 

He  died  on  July  6,  1616,  and  was  buried  on  the  north  side 
of  the  chancel  at  Bangor  Cathedral,  in  front  of  the  altar,  "among 
the  sepulchres  of  the  Bishops,"  as  Wood  states.  In  1609  he  had 
given  lands  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  for  the  maintenance  of  two 
Scholars  or  Fellows  there.4  By  his  last  Will  and  Testament  he 
also  bequeathed  moneys  for  the  erection  of  a  school  in  his  native 
parish,  Bottwnog  and  Mellteyrn.  In  his  Will  he  had  also  made 
provision  for  repairs  to  the  Cathedral,  and  for  the  poor  of  several 
parishes  in  his  diocese,  for  whom  he  erected  almshouses  in 
Bangor. 

Thomas  Jones  (Shrewsbury)  was  born  at  Tre'r  Ddol,  near 
Corwen,  in  1648,  and  in  his  boyhood  removed  to  London.  He 
published  his  first  Welsh  Almanac  in  1680,  having  obtained 

*Athen:  Oxon:  i.,  p  620.  2ibid.  3  Esgob  Henry  Rowland,  by  Arch- 
deacon Morgan,  p.  20.  *  Wood's  Athena,  i.,  p.  620. 

337 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Letters  Patent  from  Charles  II.  for  printing  and  publishing  it,  in 
the  previous  year.1  These  almanacs  were  booklets  of  28  pages, 
and  were  of  a  size  suited  for  the  pocket.  They  were  usually  sold 
at  two  pence  per  copy,  a  very  reasonable  price  considering  the 
value  of  their  contents.  The  latter  were  usually  arranged  as 
follows  :  A  general  Introduction  reviewing  the  previous  year, 
astronomical  notes  for  the  coming  year,  a  few  pages  of  poems  or 
prose,  or  both ;  a  calendar  with  forecasts  as  to  coming  events, 
and  weather ;  the  Welsh  fairs ;  and  a  miscellaneous  assortment  of 
announcements,  particularly  of  forthcoming  books.  The  literary 
portion  sometimes  contained  verse  and  prose  of  merit,  and  these 
almanacs  form  an  interesting  field  of  research,  in  which  many  a 
literary  gem  has  been  discovered.  They  did  some  service  at  a 
time  when  the  language  received  little  attention. 

Thomas  Jones  was  the  first  to  establish  a  Welsh  newspaper. 
He  ventured  a  monthly  publication  in  1690,  which  he  mentions 
in  his  Almanac  for  1691  (page  4).  The  experiment  proved  a 
failure,  however.  That  Thomas  Jones  was  an  enterprising 
publisher  is  amply  testified.  His  two  editions  of  the  Welsh 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  have  already  been  mentioned  ;  he  also 
published  a  popular  Welsh  and  English  Dictionary.  He  himself 
could  also  write  with  freshness  and  vigour. 

His  first  fifteen  almanacs  were  printed  in  London,  where  he 
had  lived  most  of  his  life,  and  kept  a  combined  bookseller  and 
chemist's  shop  from  1679-1695,  in  different  parts  of  the  city. 

In  the  latter  year  he  removed  to  Shrewsbury,  and  opened  a 
Welsh  printing-press  there  without  delay.  This  was  the  first 
Welsh  press  ever  established,  and  it  proved  an  important  event 
for  the  Principality.  Shrewsbury  became  the  centre  for  Welsh 
publications  for  at  least  half  a  century.  Presses  at  Caerleon, 
Adpar,  and  Carmarthen  were  set  up  later,  so  that  Thomas  Jones 
can  claim  to  be  the  father  of  the  Welsh  press.  Apart  from  his 
Almanacs,  the  first  Welsh  book  he  published  was  "  Llyfr  Carolau 
a  Dyriau  Duwiol,"  in  1696.  This  was  a  second  and  revised 

*  Cymdeilhas  Han.  Bed.  Cymru,  1912-13,  p.  IO, 
338 


MISCELLANEOUS 

edition  of  Ffoulk  Owen's  Ccrdd-Lyfr,  1686.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  Thomas  Jones  had  previously  printed  several 
Welsh  books  in  London,  e.g.,  "  Llyfr  1'lygain,"  1683;  "YGwir 
er  gwaethed  y\v,"  1684  ;  "Llyfr  Gweddi  Gyffredin  a  Psalmau  Can 
Edmund  Prys,"  1687;  "Y  Gymraeg  yn  ei  Disgleirdeb,"  1688; 
"  Y  Namyn-un-deugain  Erthyglau  Eglwys  Loegr."  1688  ;  "  Esbon- 
iad  neu  Ysbysiad  o  Catechism  yr  Eglwys,"  between  I685-88.1 

When  the  S.P.C.K.  was  established  in  London,  in  1698,  that 
Society  commended  and  circulated  several  of  Thomas  Jones' 
publications,  and  he  published  for  the  Society  several  of  their 
early  pamphlets,  which  were  circulated  by  the  thousand  in  the 
Welsh  Charity  Schools. 

His  Almanacs  appeared  regularly  from  1680  to  1712,  and  it 
is  believed  he  died  in  the  latter  year.  Small  as  the  publication 
was,  it  was  highly  valued  by  thousands  of  Welshmen  in  that  age, 
when  advantages  were  so  meagre,  and  Thomas  Jones  must  be 
regarded  as  a  real  benefactor  to  his  country  at  a  time  when  there 
were  no  railways,  no  postal  system,  or,  at  least,  a  very  crude  one, 
and  very  little  news  reached  rural  and  remote  parts. 

Sir  George  Jeffreys  was  the  sixth  son  of  John  Jeffreys, 
of  Acton,  near  Wrexham,  and  grandson  of  John  Jeffreys,  Justice 
of  the  Anglesey  Circuit  (1617-22).  He  was  born  at  Acton  in 
1648,  educated  at  Shrewsbury  and  Westminster,  and  proceeded 
thence  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1662.  He  entered  the 
Inner  Temple  in  the  following  year,  became  Barrister  in  1668, 
K.C.  in  1677,  Bencher  in  1679,  Sergeant  at  Law  in  1680,  King's 
Sergeant  in  the  same  year,  was  knighted  in  1677,  and  appointed 
Recorder  of  Windsor,  1685-8.  Other  dignities  that  he  held  were, 
Common  Sergeant  of  London,  1671-8,  Recorder  of  London, 
1678-80,  Solicitor- General  to  the  Duke  of  York,  1677,  Chief 
Justice  of  Chester,  1680-3,  an<^  }•!'•  f°r  Flintshire,  i68o.2 

He  brought  himself  into  considerable  prominence  in  the  trial 
of  Lord  William  Russell  for  treason,  in  which  he  acted  as  prose- 

1  Cymdeithas  Han.    Bed.    Cj'tnnt,  p.  15,      -  Welsh  Judges,   by   YV.    R, 
Williams,  p.  41* 

339 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

cuting  Counsel  for  the  Crown.  For  his  services  he  was  rewarded 
by  Charles  II.  with  the  dignity  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's 
Bench  in  1683.  As  such  he  presided  over  the  trials  of  Algernon 
Sidney  and  Sir  Thomas  Armstrong,  both  of  whom  he  condemned 
to  death,  it  is  said,  on  insufficient  evidence.1  The  well-known 
Titus  Gates  and  Richard  Baxter  were  also  tried  by  him.  In  1681 
he  had  been  created  a  baronet,  and  in  1685  was  raised  to  the 
peerage  under  the  title  of  Baron  Jeffreys  of  Wem,  Salop.  He 
was  Lord  High  Chancellor  from  1685  to  1688,  and  Lord  High 
Steward  in  1686.  In  the  latter  capacity  he  presided  over  the  trial 
of  Lord  Delamere.  But  he  is  best  known  for  his  work  as 
President  of  the  Special  Assize  in  Somerset  and  the  West,  when 
he  dealt  so  unmercifully  with  the  unfortunate  followers  of  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth  after  the  rebellion.  It  was  afterwards  known 
as  the  "  Bloody  Assizes,"  and  Jeffreys  so  covered  himself  with 
opprobrium  for  his  refusal  to  listen  to  any  appeals  for  mercy  that 
his  name  has  been  handed  down  as  "  Hanging  Judge  Jeffreys." 
He  is  generally  thought  to  have  been  a  clever  but  unscrupulous 
man.  He  had  identified  himself  with  most  of  James  II.  's 
arbitrary  measures,  and  when  the  Revolution  broke  out  in  1688, 
he  was  sent  to  the  Tower.  His  death  in  April,  1689,  either 
"from  a  broken  heart,  or  from  hard  drinking,"  as  Pennant 
observes,  saved  him  from  the  inevitable  public  disgrace  which 
would  have  followed  his  merciless  tyranny. 

Archbishop  John  Dolben  was  born  in  1624.  The 
Dolbens  were  a  well-known  Denbighshire  family,  whose  seat  was 
at  Segrwyd  or  Isegrwyd  in  that  county.  One  of  them,  David 
Dolben,  had  become  bishop  of  the  ancient  see  of  Bangor  in  1631, 
and  was  a  prelate  of  great  learning,  piety  and  zeal,  an  able  Welsh 
scholar  and  preacher.2 

The  Archbishop  was  the  son  of  Dr.  William  Dolben,  rector 
of  Stanwick,  Northants.  He  was  sent  to  Westminster  School  in 
1636,  and  was  elected  a  student  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in 

1  Welsh  fudges  by  VV.  R.  Williams,  p.  41.       2  Ancient  and  Modern  Den 
)  p.  206. 


340 


MISCELLANEOUS 

1640,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  During  the  Civil  Wars  he  bore  arms 
for  the  King,  and  was  a  major  in  the  Royal  army,  taking  part  at 
Marston  Moor  and  in  the  defence  of  York.1  He  returned  to 
Christ  Church  and  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  i647,a  and  was 
afterwards  ejected  by  the  Parliamentary  Visitors.  At  the  Restora- 
tion he  was  installed  Canon  of  Christ  Church  in  1660,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  a  doctorate  in  Divinity.  His  next  preferment  was  to 
the  Archdeaconry  of  London,  and  he  afterwards  became  Clerk  of 
the  Closet  and  Dean  of  Westminster  in  1662,  and  Bishop  of 
Rochester  in  1666.  Later  he  became  Almoner  to  the  King,  and 
managed  his  office,  as  Wood  informs  us,  "  to  the  benefit  of  the 
poor,  and  with  great  justice  and  integrity."  On  the  death  of  Dr. 
Sterne,  Archbishop  of  York,  he  was  elected  his  successor  in  1683. 

The  well-known  archbishop,  John  Williams,  was  his  uncle, 
and  he  imitated  the  latter  both  in  the  greatness  of  his  parts  and 
in  holding  two  of  the  dignities  which  he  had  enjoyed,  viz.,  the 
deanery  of  Westminster  and  the  archiepiscopate  of  the  Northern 
Province.  He  died  of  the  smallpox  in  April,  1686,  aged  62,  and 
was  buried  at  York  Minster.  His  character  as  given  by  Wood, 
and  copied  by  him  from  the  inscription  on  his  monument  3  at  that 
cathedral,  is  as  follows  :  "  In  Senatu  &  Ecclesiis,  Eloquentire 
gloria ;  In  Diooesibus  suis  Episcopal!  diligentia ;  In  omnium 
piorum  animis,  justa  veneratione  semper  victura." 

Sir  John  Trevor,  Knight,  was  the  second  son  of  John 
Trevor,  of  Brynkynallt,  and  cousin  to  Judge  Jeffreys,  who  was  his 
patron.  He  was  born  in  16.37,  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple  in 
1654,  called  to  the  bar  in  1661,  became  Bencher  in  1673, 
Treasurer  in  1674,  Reader  in  1675,  K.C.  in  1678.  He  was 
knighted  in  1671,  and  sat  in  Parliament  for  Castle  Rising, 
Norfolk,  from  1673  to  1679,  for  county  Denbigh  in  1681,  and 
again  in  1685-7,  for  Yarmouth  (Isle  of  Wight)  from  1690  to  1695. 
He  was  appointed  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1685, 
and  held  that  position  until  the  end  of  James  II.'s  reign.  In 

*Athen:  Oxen:  ii.,  pp.  792-3.  2 ibid,  792.  3  Much  of  the  information 
respecting  the  details  of  his  career  is  derived  from  the  monument  over  his 
grave  at  York  Minster.  The  dates  are  also  supplied  from  this  source. 

341 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

1690  he  was  re -appointed  and  continued  in  office  five  years.  In 
1688  he  had  been  made  a  Privy  Councillor,  and  he  held  the 
dignity  of  Master  of  the  Rolls  from  1685  to  1689.  Williams,  in 
his  Ancient  and  Modern  Denbigh,  states  that  Sir  John  Trevor  was 
a  man  "  of  considerable  learning  and  talent,  and  one  of  the  most 
influential  Tories  in  the  Kingdom.  He  was  a  benefactor  to 
Denbigh,  principal  founder  of  its  Grammar  School,  and  donor  of 
charities  for  its  poor."  Evelyn,  on  the  other  hand,  describes  him 
as  '•'  a  bold,  bad  man,"  and  records  that  he  was  expelled  from  the 
House  of  Commons  for  accepting  bribes,  in  1695.  Another 
authority,  "  The  Historical  Register,"  states  that  he  filled  all  his 
offices  "with  that  acuteness  of  understanding,  solidity  of  judgment, 
and  great  sufficiency,  especially  in  the  Chair  and  upon  the  Bench, 
that  few  or  none  had  ever  excelled  him.  He  was  a  true  lover  of 
his  country,  and  in  all  reigns  a  firm  and  constant  patriot  of  our 
constitution,  both  in  Church  and  State."1 

Griffith  Powell,  D.C.L.,  was  the  third  son  of  John  ap 
Howell,2  of  Llansawel,  in  Carmarthenshire,  where  he  was  born  in 
1561.  He  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1581,  and  took 
degrees  in  Arts  and  Civil  Law.  3  He  became  Fellow  of  the  College 
in  1590,  took  his  D.C.L.  degree  in  1599,  and  in  1613  was 
appointed  Principal.  During  his  tenure  of  that  office  he  con- 
siderably advanced  the  fortunes  of  Jesus  College.  Fellowships 
and  Scholarships  were  increased,  and  considerable  sums  raised 
from  the  Principality  through  his  energy,  for  additional  buildings, 
notably  the  Chapel  and  the  Hall,  which  were,  however,  completed 
a  few  months  after  his  death.  He  was  accounted  an  eminent 
philosopher,  and  Wood  pays  him  tribute  for  his  work  as  tutor 
and  adviser  amongst  the  junior  members  of  the  College,  as  well 
as  for  his  subtlety  as  a  disputant  amongst  the  learned  men  of  his 
day  at  Oxford.  His  works  are: 

i.  "  Analysis  Analyticorum  posteriorum  seu  librorum  Aristotelis 
de  Demonstratione,  cum  Scholiis."     Oxon.     1594. 

1  Williams'  Parl.  Hist,  of  the  Princ.  of  Wales,  p.   75.     2  Hardy's  Jems 
College,  p.  34.     3 Athen:  Oxon:  i.,  p.  383. 

342 


MISCELLANEOUS 

2.  "Analysis  libri   Aristotelis  de  Sophisticis  Elenchis."  1598.* 
Second  edition,  1664. 

The  following  lines  in  satire  were  written  of  these  two  books 
by  an  Oxford  wit : 

"  Grifmh  Powell,  for  the  honour  of  his  nation, 
Wrote  a  1'ook  of  Demonstration. 
And  having  little  else  to  doe, 
II«  wrote  a  book  of  IClenchs  too." 

He  was  also  the  author  of  other  philosophical  works.  He 
died  in  June,  1620,  and  by  a  verbal  request  (he  made  no  will)  left 
his  whole  estate  amounting  to  ^648  I'js.  2d.  to  Jesus  College,2 
with  which  land  was  purchased  for  the  maintenance  of  one 
Fellow  of  the  said  College. 3 

Sir  Leoline  Jenkins,  D.C.L;,  was  the  son  of  Jenkin 
Llewelyn,  and  was  born  in  1625  at  Llanblethian,*  in  Glamorgan- 
shire. He  was  educated  at  Cowbridge  School,  and  proceeded 
thence  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  1641,  recommended  to  that 
institution  by  Judge  David  Jenkins.  During  the  Civil  War  he 
sided  with  the  King  and  took  part  in  some  expeditions.  He 
retired  to  Wales  in  1648,  and  returned  to  Oxford  for  a  short  time 
in  1651,  but  found  the  atmosphere  of  the  University  at  that  time 
so  uncongenial  that  he  withdrew  with  some  of  his  pupils  beyond 
the  seas.  He  travelled  for  five  years  in  France,  Germany,  and 
Holland,  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  foreign  languages  which 
afterwards  stood  him  in  good  stead.  At  the  Restoration  he 
returned  to  Jesus  College,  was  made  Fellow,  and  subsequently, 
in  1 66 r,  Principal  of  the  College,  "by  the  unanimous  consent  of 
all  the  Fellows/''  s 

His  profound  knowledge  of  Civil  and  Maritime  Law  led  to 
his  appointment  as  assistant  to  Dr.  Exton  as  Judge  of  the 
Admiralty  during  the  Dutch  War,  and  he  afterwards  held  the  sole 
appointment  in  that  office.  The  importance  of  the  position  may 
be  gauged  from  the  fact  that  he  gave  436  final  sentences  in  two 
years,  and  had  suitors  before  him  "  from  almost  all  nations."  ° 

1  Wood  wrongly  gives  this  date  as  1594.     *  Hardy's  Jesus  College,  p.  "I. 
3  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  412.      4  Hardy's  ftsus  Coitegt,  pp.   131-2. 
p.  131.     6ibid,  p.  13  j. 

343 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURA 

In  1665  he  was  made  Judge  in  the  Prerogative  Court  of 
Canterbury.  In  1669  he  was  knighted  by  Charles  II.  for  his  able 
conduct  of  negotiations  respecting  the  personal  property  of  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria.  In  1670  he  was  one  of  the  Commissioners 
who  tried  to  pave  the  way  for  the  union  between  England  and 
Scotland.  In  1673  he  represented  England  in  the  Congress  at 
Cologne,  which  proved  abortive.  In  1676  another  Conference 
was  held  at  Nymwegen,  in  which  he  was  chief  of  the  three 
English  representatives.  He  ultimately  succeeded  in  composing 
all  the  differences  preparatory  to  the  Treaty  of  1679.  For  his 
services  he  was  appointed  a  Privy  Councillor  in  I68O,1  and 
Secretary  of  State.  He  died  of  the  excessive  strain  of  his 
arduous  life  in  1685,  and  was  buried  at  Jesus  College,  of  which 
Foundation  he  was  looked  upon  as  almost  "  a  Second  Founder," 
for  he  left  it  the  greatest  part  of  his  estates,  increasing  the  income 
of  that  college  by  about  ^700  a  year.  He  had  contributed 
liberally  during  his  lifetime  to  the  building  of  the  Library  there. 
He  also  behaved  very  generously  towards  his  old  school  at 
Cowbridge,  and  established  a  close  connection  between  it  and 
Jesus  College. 

All  his  letters  and  papers  were  collected  and  printed  in  two 
folio  volumes  by  W.  Wynne  in  1724,  under  the  title  "Works  of 
Sir  Leoline  Jenkins,''  and  a  biographical  account  prefixed. 

William  Maurice,  who  lived  at  Cefnybraich.  in  the  parish 
of  Llansilin,  was  a  gentleman  of  landed  property,  and  a  most 
industrious  collector  and  transcriber  of  Welsh  manuscripts.  At 
his  home  he  built  a  library  three  stories  high,2  in  which  he  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  the  study  of  Welsh  literature.  His  invaluable 
collection  of  MSS.  was  afterwards  preserved  at  Wynnstay.  In 
Volume  I.  of  the  Archceologia  Cambre?isis  there  is  published  an 
account  of  the  Civil  War  taken  from  the  notes  of  William 
Maurice.  The  year  of  his  death  is  unknown.  Canon  Williams 
states  that  he  died  between  1680  and  1690. 


1  Williams'  Eminent  Welshmen,  pp.  249-51.     2ibi',  p.  318. 
344 


INDEX 


Abergavenny,  59,  185,  212 
Abergele,  76,  197,  198 
Abernant,  68,  95,  178 
"Act  for  the  Propagation,"  &c. 

42,  44,  49,  50,  52,  53,  54,  61, 

62,  91,  92,   136,  152,  184,  189 
Adlard,  J.  E.,  66 
Adpar,  4 

Aldersey,  Col.  John,  36 
Alleine,  Joseph,  114 
Allen,  John,  112 
Almanac,  T.  Jones',  159 
All-wedd  Paradwys,  141 
Andrews,  Father,  72 
Antiqucc  Lingita  Britannica, 

123,  312,  313-7 
Anwy),  Lewis.  303 
Apocrypha,  113,  115,  191 
ArchtTologia  Britannica,  83,  84,  85, 

86 
Archdeacon  of  Anglesey,   29,  146, 

204,  337 

Archdeaconry  of  Merioneth,  119, 123 
Arise  Evans,  22,  325  •  6 
Armin,  Robert,  75 
Arnold,  Mr.  J.,  77,  78,  79 
Ash,  Simeon,  29 
Ashmolean  Museum,  83,  84,  85 
A  Tryall  of  the  Spirits,  &c.,  177 
AjLvdl  Richard  John  Grculon,  67,  68 
"A   Winding  Sheet,"  &c.,  56,  58, 

171,  191 

Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  65 
Bagshaw,  Edward,  43,  202 
Baldwin,  \Vm.,  17 
Ballinger,  103,  104,  106,  108,  no 
Bangor,  74,  82,  203,  204,  212 
Bangor,   Bishop  of,    82,    200,  208, 

337 
Bangor  Cathedral,   100,  146,    175, 

337 
Bangor,  Dean  of,  29,  100,  119,  205, 

337 

Bangor  Diocesan  Tract  Society,  64 
Bangor  University  College,  23, 132, 

159 

Baptists,  10,  44,  180,  181 
Bards,  I,  185,  186,  219 
Barker,  Christopher,  113,  131 
Barker,  Robert,  106,  130 
Barrow,  Dr.  Isaac,  76,  119 


Basingwork,  74 

Lassett,  Sir  Richard,  31 

Baxter,  Richard,  10,  50,  56,  58,  114, 

171,  187,  191,  210,  326,  340 
Bayly,  Bishop  Lewis,  144,  146,  149 
Bedford,  Duke  of.  113 
Bedlow,  Wm.,  77 
Bedydd  Planter  Nefotdd,  &c.,  178- 

181 

Berkeley,  Judge,  41 
Bernard,  Edward,  83 
Berry,  Maj. -General,  47 
Bible,   51,  64,  97,  98,  99,  ic6,  109, 

113,  115,  116,  117,   127,  131, 

191 

Bible,  Cromwell's,  in,  115.  154 
Libl,  Y,  97,  106,    in,  113,    115, 

116,  118,  129 
Bill,  Charles,  116 

Bill,  John,  106,  113,  128,  130,  131 
Blodeugerdd,  261,  272,  283,  288,  290 
JSodvel,  Petr,  131 
Bond, John,  30 
Bonham  Norton,  97 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,     98,  108, 

113,  115,  123,  128,  129-134 
Breese,  Col.,  28 
Brereton,  Sir  Wm.,  27 
Brewsrer,  E.,  169,  171 
Brewster,  Thomas,  ill 
Britannia,  15,  16,  17 
British  Museum,  98,  139,  141,  142, 

153 

Brook's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans, 

no,  151 

Brough,  Wm.,  147,  148 
Brut  y  Brenhinoedd,  74 
Bunhill  Fields,  45 

Bunney,  Edmund,  155,  157, 158,  317 
Burnet,  Dr.  Gilbert,  120 
Burton,  Robert,  82 
Burton's  Antoninus,  74 
Bushell,  Thomas,  64-5 
Byron,  Lord,  27 

Cadwaladr,  iS 

Cadwaladr,  Ellis,  290-1 

Caergai,  149,  254,  255 

Caerwys,  2,  179,  220,  233,  238,  262 

Calamy,  Dr.,  Id,  116,  II?,  136,  167, 

171 
Cambrensis,  Giraldus,  15,  74 

345 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


Cambrics  Descriptio,  15 

Cambrian  Quarterly  Magazine,  1 78 

Cambrian  Register,  17,  73,211,  213, 

221,  312,  319 

Cambria  Triumphans,  70 
Cambro-Britannica:,  «kc.,  308 
Camden,  Wm.,  15,  17,22,  100,  200, 

293,  296 

Canisii,  Petrus,  139 
Canwylly  Cymry,      106,  112,  116, 

I23>  I37»  160-5,  189 
Captain  fortes,  Legend  of,  67 
Caradoc,  King  of  Cambria,  75 
Caradoc's  Brut,  74  [322 

Carbery,  Earl  of,  25,  27,  31,  73,  94, 
Car-wr y  Cymru,    109,  152-3,  154 
Case,  Thomas,  30 
Catechism,  129,  146,  181,  193,  196, 

197 

Ccrbyd  Jechyd-wriaeth,  172 
Charity  Schools,  114 
Charles  I.,  6,  7,  19,  20,  22,  24,  25, 

26,  29,  40,  41,  64,  65,  70,  75, 

79,  92, 109,  131,  223,  249,  257, 

293 
Charles  II.,   60,  63,  68,  69,  70,  95, 

119,  131,  190 
Charles,  Rev.  T.,  51 
Chaucer,  74 
Chetwind,  Philip,      145,   146,  147, 

148,  149 

Chillingworth,  Win.,  94,  185 
Chirk,  106,  108,  109,  151 
Civil  War,  6,  9,  19,  20,  22,  31,  71, 

91,  94,  107,  219,  220,  223 
Civil  War  Tracts,  37,  48 
Clarkson,  David,  211 
Colet,  Dean,  15 
Concilia,  &c.,  21 
Corbet,  Mr.,  35 
Couls,  F.,  24 

Court,  High  Commission,  8,  59,  I51 
Cradoc,  Walter,  43,  49,  50,  51,  52, 

57,  58,  92,  1 10,  in 
Crane,  Mr.,  31 
Cromwell,  6,  19,  26,  35,  38,  42,  45, 

47,   51,   52,  69,  82,  205,  213, 

225,  257 

Cromwell,  Henry,  206 
Cromwell,  Richard,  67,  214 
Culverts,  Giles,  53 
Cuney,  Capt,  25' 
Cynfal,  52,  55,  232,  233,  269 
Cynwal,  Richard,  263,  264,  267 
Cynwal,  Wm.,  233,  238-45,  264 

Dafydd  ab  Gwilym,  126,  226,  230, 
237 

346 


Dafydd  Ddu  o  Hiraddug,  124,  159 
Dau  Gymro  yn  Taring,  137,  189 
Davies,  Dr.  John,  3,  5,  18,  97,  99, 
100,  104,  105,  123,  129,    134, 
143,  155-9,  i75>  182,  183,  186, 
256,  267,  303,  304,  309,  310-21 
Davies,  John  (Cydwely),  72 
Davies,  J.  H.,  5,  106,  no,  139,  271 
Davies,  John  (of  Hereford),  296-7 
Davies,  Bishop  Richard,  3,  183 
Davies,   Richard  (the  Quaker),   8l, 

177,  336 

Davies,  Rondl  (Randolph),  176-8 
Defosiwnau  Priod,  171-2 
Deffyniad  Ffydd,  122,  186 
De  Italics  Lingua,  &c.,  308 
Denbigh,  4,  36,  74,  121,  167,  170, 

179,  193,  196 
Denbigh,  Earl  of,  28 
Dendrologia,  68,  69 
Dent,  Arthur,  150,  151,  191 
Denzill,  31 

D'Espagne,  John,  146,  147 
Dictionarium  Historicum,  &*c.,  306 
Dictionary,    Dr.    Davies',   99,   104, 

108,  304,  312,  313-7 
Dilyniad  Crist,  181-2 
Diurnals,  65-6 
Doderidge,  Sir  John,  19 
Dodona?s  Grove,  68,  95 
Dodwell,  Henry,  179,  214 
Dolben,  Archbp.  John,  340-1 
Dorrington,  Theophilus,  197 
Douay,  138,  140,  200,  201,  329 
Dover,  S.,  131 
Drexelius,  4,  5,  174-5,  280 
Drych  Cydwybod,  141 
Dugdale,  2O 
Dunbar,  John,  295 
Durston,  Thomas,  159 


Editions   of  Edmund  Prys'  Psalms, 

128-9 
Edwards,  Charles,  5,  112,  115,  145, 

150,  151,  158,  182-7 
Edwards,  Hugh,  112 
Edwards,    John    (Sion    Treredyn), 

134,  165-6 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  211 
Edwards,  Dr.  L.,  186 
Edwards,  Sir  O.  M.,  272,  274,  282 
Edwin,  Jonathan,  77 
Eghirhad  ffelaethlawn,  7,  141 
Egluryn  PhraethtNf.b ,  303 
Elementa  Opticce,  173 
Elias,  W.,  284 
Elliott,  John,  38 


INDEX 


Ellis,  John  (of  Gwylan),  52,  72,  92, 

186,  209 

Ellis,  Richard,  8} 
Ellis,  T.  E.,  5,  56,  245 
Ellis,  Dr.  Thomas,  5,  70-2,  75,  209 
Elizabeth  (Queen),   i,   16,   67,  200, 

296 

Elsynge,  27 

Eminent  Welshmen,  108,  164,  327 
Enderbie,  Percy,  71,  75 
England's  Teats,  (5rV. ,  28 
Enston,  64,  65 
Epistohe  Ho-Eliana,  69,  95 
Erbury,  Rev.  Win.,  49,  52,  57-9 
Eugenius  Philalethes,  173,  332-3 
Evans,  Capt.,  78 
Evans,  Edward,  208 
Evans,  John,  326 

Fairfax,  26,  31,  38 
Fen ton,  17 

Ferrers,  Edward,  17,  1 8 
Ffagans,  St.,  35,  39 
Ffowks,  Edward,   131 
Fifth  Monarchy,  53,  54 
Firmin,  Thomas,  114 
Fisher,  Edward,  165 
Fisher,  Rev.  }.,  272 
Fleet  Prison,  45,  47,  69,  95 
Flesher,  James,  m,  129 
Foulkes,  Isaac,  272 
Foulkes,  Wm.,  195-6 
Fowler,  Wm.,  209 
Fox,  Mr.,  132 
Fuller,  Thomas,  So 
Fychan,  Gruffiidd,  258,  259 
Fychan,  Mrs.  Margaret,  272 

Geldon,  Wm.  77 

Gellibrand,  Samuel,  112 

Geinitus  Ecclesice,  135 

Gemma  Cambri,  169 

George  Griffith,   Bishop,   48,  62-4, 

104,  176,  184,  195,  3-16 
Gibson,  Bishop,  17,  74,  83 
Gildas,  20,  288 
"  Glan  Menai,"  128 
Glasgrug,  30 
Glosses,  86 
Glossography,  84,  85 
Glyndwr,  Owaio,  18 
Glynn,  Master,  31 
Glynne,  John,  31 
Goodman,  Gabriel,    16,    100,    281, 

310 

Goodwin,  Francis,  16,  199-200 
Goodwin,  John,  46 
Golden  Grove,  94,  135,  199,  322 


Gouge, Thomas,  94,  112,  113,114-6, 

132,  133.   136,  I4S»  171,  188, 

190,  191,  193 
Gouge,  Dr.  William,  114 
Grammar,   Dr.  John   Davies',   99, 

100,  127,  312 
Greal,  118,  304 
Griffin,  Bennet,  150 
Griffin.  Sarah,  145,  147 
Griffith,  Alexander,  43,  47,  61-2 
Griffith,  Owen,  283-5 
Griffith,  Robert,  63 
Grimm's  Law,  86 
Gwallter  Mechain,    101,    122,   164, 

167,  177,  180,  226,  230,  286 
Gweirydd  ap  Rhys,  101,  104,  312 
Gwilym  Ganoldref,  109,  121 
Gwinn,  Robert,  156,  158 
Gwyddor  Uchod,  56 

Habington,  Thomas,  20 

Habington,  William,  20 

Hacket,  Bishop  John,  203 

Hafren,  Gruffydd,  263,  266 

Hall,  H.,  177,  185 

Hall,  John,  72 

Hampton  Court  Conference,  91 

Hancock,  John,  113 

llarley,  Sir  Robert,  50,  52 

Harrington,  Sir  John,  293 

Harrison.  Thomas,  53,  55 

Harvey,  Thomas,  295 

Hearne,  87 

Keilyn,  Henry,  79 

Heilyn,  Dr.  Peter,  79-81,  109,  202 

Heilyn  Rowland,  3,  106,  107,  108, 

108-9,  128,  132,  154 
Hengwrt,  5,  21,  72,  73,  75 
Henrietta  Maria,  65,  344 
Henry,  Matthew,  179 
Henry,  Philip,  179 
Herbert,  Lord,  25 
Herbert,  Matthew,  297 
Herbert,  Sir  Thomas,  19 
Herbert,  Wm.  (E.  of  Pembroke),  19 
Hereford,  Bishop  of,  77,  199,  213 
Hills,  Henry,  113,  131 
Hiraethog,  Gruffydd,  263 
History  of  Cambria,  71,  75 
Holland,  16,  52,  95,  251 
Holland,  Henry,  137,  303 
Holland,  Hugh,  295-6,  304 
Holland,  Philemon,  297 
Holland,  Robert,  137-8,  189,  190 
Ho II  Ddyltdswydd  Dyn,    115,    191, 

193-4 

Holt,  R.,  112,  129 
Horton,  Col.,  35,  36,  39 

347 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


Howell,  Erasmus,  44 

Howell,  James,  28,  68-70,   95,   96, 

178,  321-2 

Howell,  Thomas,  68,  95 
Hue  and  Cry,  43,  44,  47,  62 
Hughes,  Hugh,  272,  273,  275,  279 
Hughes,  Father  John,  142,  182 
Hughes,  Stephen,  3,  51,  94,  109-10, 

H2,  113,  115,  116-9,  I29>  J37i 

145,  162,  163-4,  178,  180,  187, 

188-92 
Humphreys,     Bishop      Humphrey, 

100,  132,  134,  212-3,  280,  304, 

310,  311,  312,  316,  318 
Husbands,  Edward,  27 
Hyfforddiadau  Christianogol,    115, 

186 
Hywel  Dda,  74 

leuan  Clywedog,  287 

Ignatius,  21 

Itnitatio  Christi^  142,   181 

Independents,  10,   37,   51,  53,    57, 

176,  I 80 
Iter  Boreale,  60 
Itinerants,  42,  43,  50 
Itinerarium,  15 

James  I.,  19,  91,  141,  146,  202,  293, 

310,  3" 

James,  Edward,  142-3 
James,  Ivor,  134,  183 
Jeffreys,  Sir  George,  339-40 
Jenkins,  David  (Judge),  32,  33,  34 
Jenkins,  John,  1 80 
Jenkins,  Sir  Leoline,  209,  343-4 
fenkins,  Recantation  of,  35 
Jenkins,  Trial  of  Judge,  34 
/enkinsius,  Redivivus,  35 
Jones,  Col.,  66 
Jones,  Col.  Philip,  42 
Jones,  David  (Llandysilio),  115,  117, 

129,  192,  193 
Jones,  Edward,  170,  197 
Jones,  Inigo,  66 
Jones,  John,  331 
Jones,  John  (Gellilyfdy),  5,  73 
Jones,  (Rev.)  John  (loanTegid),  104 
Jones,  John  (Leander),  200-01,  329 
Jones,  John  (Maesygarnedd),  6,  7 
Jones,     Richard     (Denbigh),     115, 

170-1,  186,   191 
Jones,  Richard  (Llanfair  C.E.),  166- 

170 
Jones,  Samuel  (Brynllywarch),   112, 

178,  180 

Jones,  Thomas,  4,  207-8 
Jones,  Thomas  (Creaton),  103 


Jones,  Thomas  (Nanteos),  328 
Jones,  Thomas   (Shrewsbury),  129, 

!32,  133.  134,  MS,   !59>   230, 

236,  286,  337-9 

Jones,  William,  115,  189,  192-3 
Jones,  William,  Sir,  327-8 
fur  a  Majestatis,  28 
Juvencus  MS.,  86 

Kames,  Col.,  31 

Keach,  Benjamin,  180 

Kernes,  Baronia  de,  17 

Kidwelly,  72 

Kyffin,  Edward,  109,  122-3, 124>  JS4 

Kyffin,  Maurice,  122,  143,  186 

Lambeth,  49,  57 

Langford,  John,  193-4 

Langhorn,  Col.,  32 

Lappiton,  83 

Laud  (Archbp.),  8,  49,  59,  79,  So, 

92,  109,  148,  200,  202,  204,  213 
Laugharn,  Thomas,  25,  27 
Laugharne,  Rowland,  25,  27,  29,  36 
Legatt,  John,  16 
Leland,  74 
Lenthal,  Wm.,  27 
Lewis,  Elis,  174-5/280 
Lewis.  Father,  77,  78 
Lewis,  H.  Elvet  (Rev.),  182 
Lewis,  Hugh,  303 
Lewis,  John,  30,  186,  326 
Lewis,  Pierce  (Rev.),  118 
Lewis,  Stephen,  176 
Lewis,  Sir  William,  31 
Lewys,  Wm.,  172 
Lexico.  Lat.  Brit.,  309 
Lexicon  Tetraglo.ton,  321-2 
Lix  Terra,  35 
Leyson,  Thomas,  293,  299 
Lister,  Martin,  83 
Lithophylacii,  &>f.,  85 
Liturgy,  25,  63,  214 
Lloyd,  David,' 75-6 
Lloyd,  Dr.  David,  67-8,  135 
Lloyd,  Edward  (of  Llangower),  194-5 
Lloyd,  Hugh,  76,  304-5 
Lloyd,  Humphrey,  Bp. ,  212,  213 
Lloyd,  Luke,  36 
Lloyd,  Nicholas,  305-6 
Lloyd,  (Rev.)  Richard,  119 
Lloyd,  Samuel,  177 
Lloyd,  Bp.  William,  81,    118,    119- 

120,  179,  194,  210,  276 
Lloyd,  Wm.  (St.  Petrox),  112 
Long  Parliament,  30,  34,  69,  70,  93 
Lord  Mayor  of  London,  18,  46,  109 
Lort,  Sampson,  42 


348 


Love,  Christopher,  59-61 
Lucas,  Richard,  212 
Lucius,  289 
Luick,  85 

Llancarvan,  Caradoc  of,  82 
Llandaff,  Bp.  of,  16,   59,   77,   132, 

199,  206 

Llandrillo,  63,  210 
Llandysilio,  79,  189,  192 
Llynddwywe,  123,  172 
Llanrhaiadr-ym-Mochnant,  155,  184 
Llansilin,  221,  231,  273 
Llanstephan  MS,  83 
Llewelyn,  Dr.,  99,  106,  ill,  117 
Lleyn,  Gwilym,  23,48,  82,  101,  1 12, 

117,  128,  143,  171 
Llwybr  Hyffordd,   108,    145,     150, 

151,  152,  158,  186 
Llwyd,  Dafydd,  233,  269,  270 
Llwyd,  Edward,  74,  83-87,  288 
Llwyd,  Huw,    52,    232,    233,    260, 

267,  270,  271 
Llwyd, leuan,  263,  266 
Llwyd,  Morgan,  5,  43,49,  50,  51-2, 

S2-?.  5S,  92,  94,  245-254,  269, 

270 

Llwyd,  Meredydd,  194 
Llwyd,  Pulpud  Huw,  55 
Llwyd,  Robert,  106,  108,  109,  145, 

151-2,  154 
Llyfr  Corn,  192 
Llyfr  Du  Caerfyrddin,  74 
Llyfr   Gweddi   Gyffredin,    129-134, 

191 

Llyfr  Gwyn  Rhydderch,  74 
Llyfr  Taliesin,  74 

Llyfry  Resolution,  155-9,  182,  186 
Llyfr  yr  Hoiniliau,  142,  143 
Llyfry  Tri  Aderyn,  54,  55 
Llyn,  William,  232,  263 

Machno,  Hugh,  52,  264,  269-271 

Madoc  ab  Owain,   19 

Maentwrog,  52,  123,  124,  127,  232, 

269 

Magistrates,  A  Myrroure  for,  17 
Malpas,  66 

Mallwyd,  99,  127,  129,  155 
Map  of  Commerce,  A,  1 8 
Marches  of  Wales,  23,  81 
Madmddyn,  165 
Marrow    of  Modern   Divinity,    5, 

134,  165 

Marten,  Harry,  33 
Maurice,  David,  197-8 
Maurice,    Henry,    134,    163,    178, 

209-11 


Maurice,  Wm.,  344 
Mayne,  Jasper,  148 
Meidrym,  189 
Meldrum,  Sir  John,  27 
Mercurii,  65,  66 
Meredith,  Thomas,  59 
Meres,  Francis,  17 
Middleton,  Sir  Hugh,  64,  109 
Middleton,  Richard,  109,  121 
Middleton,  Thomas,  3,  26,  27,  28, 
36,  106,  108,  109-10,  128,  132, 

154,  171 
Middleton,    Capt.    Wm.,    120-122, 

124,  303. 

Midltwn,  Beibl,  106 
Milborne,  Robert,  130 
Millington,  26 
Milton,  224 
Mines  Royall,  64 
Mitton,  Col.,  28,  29,  30,  32 
Mono,  Antiqua,  85 
Monasticon  Anglicanum,  20 
Morgan,    Bishop,    96,    97,   98,   99, 

100,  101,  101-4,  107,  127,  142, 

183,  310,  311,  315 
Morgan,  K.  of  Morganwg,  18 
Morgan,  Sir  Edward,  71 
Morgan,  John,  Aberconwy,  197 
Morgan,  Matthew,  93 
Morris,  Lewis,  4,  118,  230 
Morris,  Richard,  118 
Morus,  Edward,   3,    221,    271-283, 

285,  290 
Morus,  Huw  (Hugh),  2,  3,  6, 9,  56, 

221-232,  271,  273,  275,  290 
Myddleton,  Mrs.,  224,  226 
Mydrim,  116 
Myfyr,  Owain,  3 
Mysteries,  The  Discovery  of,  29 

Nannau,  261,  262,  268,  269,  285 

Narberth,  38 

Nennius,  74 

Newcastle  Emlyn,  4 

New  Chappell,  63 

Newcomb,  Thomas,  113,  Il6,  131 

Newgate,  32,  34,  58,  138 

New  Testament,  97,  no,  in,  112, 

113,  129 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  85 
Nicholas,  Edward,  131 
Norton  and  Bill,  98 
Norton,  Bonham,  128 

Oakeley,  W.  E.,  127 
Oakey,  Col.,  35 
Okes,  Nicholas,  150,  153 
Oldsworth,  Michael,  41 

349 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


Oliver,  Rev.  P.,  51 

Olor  Iscanui,  173,  297 

Oriens  ab  Occidente,  30 

Orthography,  4,   139 

Ossory,  Bp.  of,  29 

Oswestry,  8l,  83,  179,  183 

Owain    (Owen),   Lewis,    285,    286, 

290 

Owen,  Arthur,  25 
Owen,  Charles,  179,  180 
Owen,  David,  24 
Owen,  Ffoulk,  230,  236 
Owen,  George,  17 
Owen,  Goronwy,  118,  126,  183,  231 
Owen,  Hugh,  142,  179 
Owen,  Hugh    (H.   O.  Gwenynog), 

181-2 

Owen,  James,  Si,  115,  178-181 
Owen,  John  Bp.,  63,  92,  204-5,  3*5 
Owen,  John,   D.D.,   46,   63,    187, 

213-15 
Owen,  John(Oedenus  or  Audoenus), 

6,  293-5 

Owen,  Baron  Lewis,  73 
Owen,  Lewis  (Running    Register), 

141,  203,  329 
Owen,  Matthew,  288-290 
Owen,  Morgan,  92 
Owen,  Mr.  (Porkington),  222 
Owen,  Sir  Hugh,  93 

Parker,  Henry,  34 

Parry,  Bp.,  16,  97,  98,  99,  100-105, 

107,  118,  142,  144,  310,  311 
Parsons,  Robert,  140,  155,156,  157, 

329 

Patrick,  Bishop,  194 
Pattrwm  y  Gwir  Grislioti,  182 
Payte,  A  Welch,  19 
Pecke,  Thomas,  295 
Peleus,  69 

Ptnbrokshire,  Description  of,  17 
Pendarves,  John,  148,  149 
Pendeulwyn,  32 
Pentre  Heilyn,  79,  80,  108 
Perkins,  Wm.,  137,  190 
Perl  y  Cymro,  167,  169-70 
Perry,  Henry,  303-4,  315 
Peters,  Hugh,  38,  42,  43 
Philangus,  70 
Philipot,  John,  16 
Philips,  Col.,  39 
Phylip,    Grufifydd,    263,    265,    266, 

267-8,  269 

Phylip,  Phylip  Sion,  258 
Phylip,  Richard,  261,  266,  268-9 
Phylip,  Sion,  233,  237,  238,  261-7, 

268,  269 

35° 


Phylip,  William,    3,  223,  233,  255, 

256,  257-61,  288 
Plot,  Dr.,  83 
Poet,  The  Passionate,  19 
Polycarp,  21 
Pont-y-meibion,  221,  229 
Poole,  Matthew,  114 
Popish,  Plot,  77,  78 
Powel,  Capt.,  25 
Powel,  Gabriel,  198-9,  292 
Powel,  Griffith,  292  ,  342-3 
Powel,  Col.  Rice,  39 
Powel,  Samuel,  292 
Powell,  Dr.  David,  15,  198,  307,  315 
Powell,  Dr.,  71,  74,  82 
Powell,  Thomas,  19 
Powell,  Thomas,  D.D.,  173-4 
Powell,  Vavasor,  43-51,  58,  61,  62, 

63,  92,  1 10,  136,  148 
Powell,  Watkin,  3 
Poyer,  John  (Col.),  25,  27,  35,  38,  39 
Practice,  The,  of  Piety,  5,  144,  146, 

149 

Price,  Henry,  292 
Price,  John,  215 
Price,  Sir  John,  75 
Price,  Owen,  305 
Price,  Robert,  335-6 
Price,  Thomas  (Plas  lolyn),  122 
Prichard,  Vicar  Rhys,    3,  106,  116, 

135,  160-165,  J89>  I9° 
Prideaux,  Bp. ,  79,  138 
Prif Achau,  &c.,  308 
Primordia  (De  Primordiis),  20,  21, 

73,  74,  U6 

Pritchard,  Emily  M.,  17 
Projiid  yr  Ysprydion,  177 
Prophecies,  22,  23 
Prys,  Edmund,    3,  123-9,  135,  143, 

232-45,  263,  264,  267,  288 
Pry?  Psalms,      108,  112,  113,  115, 

120-129,  130,  131,  134 
Prys,  Thomas,  238,  239,  244 
Pryse,  Bridget,  83 
Pughe,  Dr.,  86,  159 
Pugh,  Thomas,  23,  327 
Puritanism,  9,  IO,  37,  80,  91,  148 
Puritans,  9,  44,  50,  60,  70,  92,  199, 

202 

Quadriga  Saluiis,  173 
Quakers,  10,  81,  177-178 

Ravenscroft,  Col.  Thomas,  36 
Ray,  John,  83 
Ray,  Memorials  of,  74 
Rees,  Thomas,  108 
Remains^  &c     l<i 


INDEX 


Restoration,  The,  6,  70,  93,  136, 

206,  214 

Rhaglan,  Castle,  19,  24,  141 
Rhys,  Dr.  John  Dafydd,   121,   293, 

307-8,  315 
Rhys,  Sir  John,  86 
Richards,  Thomas,  66 
Richmond  (Yorks.),  68 
Roberts,  Dr.  Gruftydd,  86,  138,  139 
Roberts,  John  (Jesuit),  7,  328-30 
Roberts;  Lewis,  18 
Roberts,  Michael  (Principal  of  Jesus, 

Oxon) 153,  185 
Roberts,  Dr.  W.,  92 
Robinson,  Hugh,  205 
Rous,  Mr.,  26 
Rowland,  Bp.,  146,  337 
Rowland,  Henry,  85 
Rowlands'  Cambrian  Bibliography, 

112,  163,  176,  272 
Rudd,  Dr.,  91 
Rumsey,  Walter,  331-2 
Rupert,  Prince,  66 
Russell,  Wm.,  113 
Ruthin,  29,  67,  76,  100,  183,  193 
Ruthin  Grammar  School,   100,  201, 

281 

Salesbury,  Henry,  303,  304,  315 
Salesbury,  Wm.,  96,  97,   130,  142, 

160,  303,  315,  318 
Salisbury,  Hugh,  184 
Salisbury,  John,  36,  303 
Salisbury,    Father  John,  7,  141-2 
Salisbury,  Pierce,  122 
Salisbury,  Thomas;,    120,    121,  122, 

123 

Sammes,  Aylett,  76 
Samwell,  D.,  228,  232 
Satires,  39,  70 
Scrope,   Lord,  68 
Scudamore,  John,  78 
Scutum,   121 
Sebright,  Sir  Thomas,  84 
Shankland,   Rev.  T.,   92,   114,  132, 

133,  144,  163,  167,  189 
Sherlock,  Dr.  Wm.,  196,  215 
Silex  Scintillans,  297 
Simon  Stafford,  122 
Sion  Dafydd  Las,  283,  285-6 
Sion  Tudur,  68,  232,  262 
Smyth,  Dr.  Roger,  138-141 
Socinian,  58,  211 
S.P.C.K.,  103,  115 
Speed,  John,  18 
Spelman,  Henry,  21 
Sports,  Book  of,  9,  49,  57,  59,  92, 

202 


St.  Asaph,  Bp.  of,  62,  76,  loo,  204 
St.  Asaph  Cathedral,  63,  151,  197, 

205 

St.  Asaph,  Dean  of,  67,  68 
St.  David's,  Bp.    of,  92,  160,   190, 

207,  214 

St.  David's  Cathedral,  160 
St.  Donat's,  21 
Stillingfleet,  Edward,  81,  114,  187, 

215 

Stradling,  Sir  Edward,  293,  306-7 
Stradling,  Sir  Henry,  31 
Stradling,  Sir  John,  293,  295,  307 
Stradling,  Maj.  Gen.,  39 
Stradling,  Sir  Thomas,  306 
Strena,  43,  62 
St.  Sepulchre,  15,  114 
Sufferings  of  the    Clergy,  42,   152, 

172,  194 

Swanley,  Capt.   Richard,  29 
Symmons,  Matthew,  no 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  94,  135 

Taylor,  John,  66 

Testament  Newydd,   no,   III,  112, 

115,  190 

Testuny  Test.  Newydd,  167-8 
Thalia  Rediviva,  95,  297 
Theatre  Thet  of  the  Empire,  18 
"  The  British  Gem,"  169 
Thelwall,  Simon.  25,  27,  36 
Thetis,  69 

Thomas  a  Kempis,  142,  181 
Thomas,  Archdeacon,  151,  152,  176 
Thomas,  Charles,  177 
Thomas,  David,  1 12 
Thomas,  Sir  Edward,  31 
Thomas,  Lewis  (als.  Evans),  208 
Thomas,  Lleufer,  17 
Thomas  Llwyd  o  Benmaen,  287-8 
Thomas,  Oliver,  92,  153-5 
Thomas,  Rev.  W.,  no 
Thomas,  Dr.  Wm.,  Dean  and   Bp. 

of  Worcester,  163,  206-07 
Thomas,  Wm.,  208-09 
Threnodia  Carolina,  19 
Thurloe,  45 

Tillotson,  94,  113,  114,  187,  191 
Tower,  19,  33,  92,  119 
Transactions,  Cym.  Soc.,  no 
Tredenoc,  165 
Tresilian,  Robert,  17 
Trevor,  Sir  John,  78,  341-2 
"Trugaredd  a  Barn,"  178-180 
Trysor  fr  Cymru,  155,  158,  191 
Tudor,  A  Prince  of  Wales,  77 
Turbervill,  78 
Twm  Sion  Catty,  330-1 

351 


WALES  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


Tyler,  E.,  112,  129 
Tyrrel,  Sir  Timothy,  21 

University  of  Wales,  74 

Usher,  Archbp.,  15,  20,  73,  74,  146, 

215 
Uxbridge,  60 

Vairdre  Book,  17 

Valentine,  Dr.,  171 

Valladolid,  7,  141,  203,  329 

Valiancy,  Col.,  86 

Vaughan,  Edward,  168,  178 

Vaughan,  Evan,  148 

Vaughan,  Henry  (Silurist),  95,  96, 

119,297-9 

Vaughan,  Howell,  73,  277 
Vaughan,  Sir  Hugh,  24 
Vaughan, John,  149,  273, 291, 333-4 
Vaughan,  Mrs.  Margaret,  273 
Vaughan,  Bishop  Richard,  198 
Vaughan,  Robert,  5,  6,  21,  71,  72, 

72-4,  75.  3'0,  313,  319 
Vaughan,  Rowland,  3,  6,  57,   138, 

144-51,  223,  254-6 
Vaughan,  Thomas,  332-3 
Vaughan,  William,  199,  291-3 
Vicars,  John,  295 
Vindicice  Regum,  29 

Wakeman,  Sir  George,  77 

Wakley,  Thomas,  23 

Wales,  North,  4,  32,  36,  84,   114, 

14'.  152 

Wales,  South,  4,  26,  31,  32,  33,  35, 
36,  38,  61,  62,  93,  114,  141 

Wales,  The  Bible  in,  104,  105,  106, 
108,  no 

Walker,  10,  42,  92,  93,  152,  172, 
194 

Waller,  Sir  Wm.,  25 

Wallis,  John,  83 

Warwick,  Robert,  Earl  of,  27,  29 

Watcin  Clywedog,  286-7 

Water  Poet,  66 

Watkin  Williams  Wynn  (Sir),  85 

Webb,  John,  66 

Webster,  T.,  163 

Welsh  Trust,  114,  115,  186 

Westminster,  33,  80,  201 

Westminster  Abbey,  16,  22 

Westminster  School,  15,  16,  63,  100 


Wharton,  Lord,  117 
Whichcot,  Benjamin,  114 
Whitaker,  26 
White,  John,  203-4 
Widdrington,  Sir  Thomas,  26 
Wild,  Robert,  60 

William  III.,  117,  119,  326,  335-6 
Williams,  Griffith,  28,  29,  205-6 
Williams,  John   (Archbp.),  30,  80, 

201-03,  2°4>  34 1 
Williams,  Dr.  John,  292 
Williams,  Morris  (Nicander),  143 
Williams,  Moses,  108,  134,  236 
William  Prys  Dafydd,  288 
Williams,  Roger,  53 
Williams,  Dr.  Thomas,  5,   308-310, 

313,  316,  317,  318-20 
Williams,  Thomas  (Denbigh),  196 
Williams,  Sir  William,  334-5 
Williams,  W.  P.,  123 
Willoughby,  74 
Wits  Commonwealth,  17 
W.  L.  M.  A.,  171-2 
Wmffrai  Dafydd  ab  Ifan,  286 
Wood,  Anthony,  99,  208,  296 
Woodstok,  Thomas  of,  17 
Worcester,  Bp.  of,  81,  120 
Wrexham,  36,  50,  52,  151,  252 
Wroth,  Mr.  W.,  49,  50,  59,  in 
Wycliffe,  ^ 

Wynn,  Dr.  Edward,  175-6 
Wynn,  Humphrey,  212 
Wynn,  Owen  (of  Gwydyr),  129 
Wynn,  Sir  John,  309,  310,  317-320, 

321,  336 

Wynne,  Chancellor,  133 
Wynne,  John  (of  Henllan),  82 
Wynne,  Robert  (Rev.),  230,  231 
Wynne,  Rev.  Wm.,  82 


Y  Beirniad,  163,  164 

Y  Bibl  Bach,  106 

Y Brython,  259,  260,  269,  284 

Y  C-wtta  Cyfai~wydd,  74,  204 

Y  Pfydd  Ddifuant,  112,  185,  191 

Young,  W.,  M.D.,  43 

Yr  Hen  Lyfr  Ply  gain,  159 

Yr  Ymarfer  o  Dduwitldeb, 

115,  144,  186,  191 
Ystyriaethau  Drexelius,  174-5 
Y  Waun,  109,  154 


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